Graphene Based Origami and Kirigami Metamaterials

Project Personnel

Paul McEuen

Principal Investigator

Cornell University

Email

Itai Cohen

Cornell University

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Mark Bowick

University of California, Santa Barbara

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David Nelson

Harvard University

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Funding Divisions

Division of Materials Research (DMR)

The paper arts of origami and kirigami ('ori' = fold, 'kiri' = cut) provide a powerful framework to design responsive and tunable new materials. This project will extend these design ideas to the microscale using graphene, an atomically thin two dimensional material, as the nanoscale paper foundation. Lithographic techniques borrowed from the semiconductor industry will be used to pattern the graphene, and a variety of approaches will be employed to create folds, all chosen to realize a specific mechanical property. The focus is on creating mechanical 'metamaterials' - materials whose properties reflect the patterns of folds and cuts rather than the properties of the underlying paper. With room temperature applications in mind, the theoretical effort will focus on the crucial role of thermally-activated Brownian motion in determining the material properties of graphene monolayers with cuts and folds. This paper-arts-inspired strategy has the potential to fundamentally transform the way materials are designed for the micro-world and could find applications in areas ranging from micro-robotics to mechanical sensors and actuators that mimic biologically 'active' tissues.

Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer our Future (DMREF)