This dissertation demonstrates design, characterization, and application of stimuli responsive self-folding soft microsystem. Stimuli responsive self-folding soft robotics is an emerging attractive field to mimic motions of biological systems by utilizing hydrogels, polymer or hybrid combination of them, which guide three dimensional (3D) shape change. The stimuli responsive soft robotics have numerous distinct advantages such as lightweight, inexpensive, flexible, easy to design, and able to operate in aqueous environments with no aids of complex feedback sensors, wires, tethers or batteries, as different from conventional electrically or pneumatically driven metals or/and ceramic based robotics.
To establish the foundations of collective innovations and integrated intelligent biomimetic stimuli responsive microsystems, a self-folding strategy can be adapted. Self-folding is a new paradigm to manipulate 2D thin film structures transforming to 3D when triggered by external stimuli such as heat, pH, light, ionic strengths, mechanical stress, magnetic or electrical fields etc. In order to broadly implement this strategy, nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) inspired high throughput photolithography can be adapted. Conventional VLSI fabrication such as photolithography, etching, physical vapor deposition (PVD) can provide reliable and reproducible approaches to pattern particular designs of polymer or/and hydrogels in a cost-effective manner.
Finally, this dissertation demonstrates the design principles, materials characterization and high applicability of those reconfigurable stimuli responsive self-folding soft microsystems for a variety of applications such as soft robotic actuators, biological biopsy tools, and reconfigurable opto-electrical sensors etc
