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Posted on: 2/16/2013 12:00:00 AM... Chemical engineers at Johns Hopkins University have developed self-assembling particles that are inspired by origami, the traditional Japanese art of folding paper into complex three-dimensional shapes. They demonstrated the fabrication and folding of these particles in two applications in a video-article recently published in JoVE (Journal of Visualized Experiments). In the first application, the particles seal up with a glue-like material at the edges. In the second, the authors present structures that reconfigure in response to a stimulus.

In the demonstration, the researchers use a photolithography process to etch structural designs and flexible hinges on to a two-dimensional surface. When these complex patterns are exposed to the correct environmental pressures, they can be manipulated to fold and seal or open and close. This fabrication process also allows crucial structural patterns to be printed on three-dimensional particles.

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