Skip to Main Content
International Institute for Nanotechnology
Kabiller Prize • News • Events • Employment
  • About
    • Message from the Director
    • Partners
      • Centers & Institutes
      • Research Initiatives
      • Laboratories
      • Government Agencies
      • Academic
      • Industrial
    • Facilities
  • People
    • Executive Council
    • Steering Committee
    • Affiliated Faculty
      • Weinberg College of Arts & Sciences
      • Kellogg School of Management
      • Feinberg School of Medicine
      • McCormick School of Engineering & Applied Science
    • Administration
  • Research
    • NanoMedicine
      • Northwestern University Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence (CCNE)
        • NU-CCNE Project 1
        • NU-CCNE Project 2
        • NU-CCNE Project 3
        • NU-CCNE Oligonucleotide Synthesis and Nanoconstructs Core
      • NTU-Northwestern Institute for Nanomedicine (NNIN)
        • NNIN Executive Committee
    • NanoOncology
      • Ronald and JoAnne Willens Center for Nano Oncology
        • Willens Center Project 1
        • Willens Center Project 2
        • Willens Center Project 3
        • Willens Center Project 4
        • Willens Center Project 5
    • NanoEnvironment
      • Nanotechnology for Universal Clean Air & Water Security (NU-CAWS)
        • NU-CAWS Affiliated Faculty
        • NU-CAWS Research Highlights
    • NanoEnergy
    • NanoMaterials
      • Center of Excellence for Advanced Bioprogrammable Nanomaterials (C-ABN)
        • Thrust 1 - Materials & Methods Development
        • Thrust 2 - Functional Substrates
        • Thrust 3 - Advanced Biosensing
    • Molecular Electronics
    • Security & Defense
  • Education
    • Ryan Graduate Fellowships
    • IIN Postdoctoral Fellowships
    • Frontiers in Nanotechnology Seminar Series
    • Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU)
    • All Scout Nano Day
    • Nano Boot Camp for Clinicians
    • Nanotechnology Town Hall Meetings
  • Industry
    • Nanotechnology Corporate Partners (NCP) Program
    • Small Business Partnership
  • Giving
  • Kabiller Prize
    • Overview
    • Kabiller Prize Nomination Process
    • About David Kabiller
    • Kabiller Prize Winners
      • 2019 Chad Mirkin
      • 2017 Robert Langer
      • 2015 Joe DeSimone
    • Kabiller Young Investigator Award Winners
      • 2019 Molly Stevens
      • 2017 Liangfang Zhang
      • 2015 Warren Chan
  • News
  • Events
    • 2020 IIN Virtual Symposium
    • Frontiers in Nanotechnology Seminar Series
    • Nano Boot Camp for Clinicians
    • Nanotechnology Town Hall Meetings
  • Employment
    • Assistant, Associate or Full Professor of Nanotechnology
close
‹ back to news & updates

Japanese art technique applied to nanoscale structures

Posted by Mark Heiden, Posted in News, Research
Share:

‘Kirigami cuts’ can be used to create 3D microstructures and nanotools

by Lila Reynolds

Paper snowflakes, pop-up children’s books and elaborate paper cards are of interest to more than just crafters. A team of Northwestern University engineers is using ideas taken from paper-folding practices to create a sophisticated alternative to 3D printing.

Kirigami comes from the Japanese words “kiru”(to cut) and “kami”(paper) and is a traditional form of art in which paper is precisely cut and transformed into a 3D object. Using thin films of material and software to select exact geometric cuts, engineers can create a wide range of complex structures by taking inspiration from the practice.

Research, published in 2015, showed promise in the kirigami “pop-up” fabrication model. In this iteration, the ribbon-like structures created by the cuts were open shapes, with limited ability to achieve closed shapes. Other research building on the same inspiration mainly demonstrates that kirigami can be applied at a macroscale with simple materials like paper.

But new research published today (Dec. 22) in the journal Advanced Materials advances the process a step further.

Horacio EspinosaHoracio Espinosa, a mechanical engineering professor in the McCormick School of Engineering, said his team was able to apply concepts of design and kirigami to nanostructures. Espinosa led the research and is the James N. and Nancy J. Farley Professor in Manufacturing and Entrepreneurship.

“By combining nanomanufacturing, in situ microscopy experimentation, and computational modeling, we unraveled the rich behavior of kirigami structures and identified conditions for their use in practical applications,” Espinosa said.

The researchers start by creating 2D structures using state-of-the-art methods in semiconductor manufacturing and carefully placed “kirigami cuts” on ultrathin films. Structural instabilities induced by residual stresses in the films then create well-defined 3D structures. The engineered kirigami structures could be employed in a number of applications ranging from microscale grippers (e.g. cell picking) to spatial light modulators to flow control in airplane wings. These capabilities position the technique for potential applications in biomedical devices, energy harvesting, and aerospace.

Typically, there has been a limit to the number of shapes that can be created by a single kirigami motif. But by using variations in the cuts, the team was able to demonstrate film bending and twisting that result in a wider variety of shapes — including both symmetrical and asymmetrical configurations. The researchers demonstrated for the first time that structures at microscales, using film thicknesses of a few tens of nanometers, can achieve unusual 3D shapes and present broader functionality.

New research allows each kirigami motif to bend into multiple shapes.

For example, electrostatic microtweezers snap close, which can be harsh on soft samples. By contrast, kirigami-based tweezers can be engineered to precisely control the grabbing force by tuning the amount of stretching. In this and other applications, the ability to design cut locations and predict structural behavior based on computer simulations takes out trial and error, saving money and time in the process.

As their research advances, Espinosa says his team plans to explore the large space of kirigami designs, including array configurations, in order to achieve a larger number of possible functionalities. Another area for future research is the embedding of distributed actuators for kirigami deployment and control. By looking into the technique further, the team believes kirigami can have implications in architecture, aerospace and environmental engineering.

The paper, “Kirigami engineering: Nanoscale structures exhibiting a range of controllable configurations,” was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (contract number DE-AC02-06CH11357). The co-first authors are Espinosa and David Lopez at Penn State.

Read at Northwestern Now

No Comments


No comments yet.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

* Get an image next to your comment by visiting Gravatar.com and uploading a profile photo that links to your email address.

    Categories

    • Awards and Honors
    • Multimedia
    • Nanoscape Newsletter
    • Nanotechnology at Northwestern
    • News
    • Research
    My Tweets

    For Journalists

    NORTHWESTERN MEDIA CONTACT

    Megan Fellman
    Science and Engineering Editor
    Phone: 847-491-3115
    Email: Megan Fellman

    IIN MEDIA CONTACT

    Kathleen Cook
    Chief of Staff
    Phone: 847-467-5335
    Email: Kathleen Cook

Signup For Our Newsletter

Sign up for our newsletter to receive information on events, news, and articles.

More Info
  • Privacy Policy
  • Tech Transfer
  • News & Events
  • Contact Us
  • Sitemap
  • Education
  • About Us
  • Nano101
  • Facilities
  • Partners
Follow Us
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Youtube
  • Instagram

Northwestern University

© International Institute for Nanotechnology