Magnetically Responsive Elastomer–Silicon Hybrid Surfaces for Fluid and Light Manipulation

Stimuli-responsive surfaces with tunable fluidic and optical properties utilizing switchable surface topography are of significant interest for both scientific and engineering research. This work presents a surface involving silicon scales on a magnetically responsive elastomer micropillar array, which enables fluid and light manipulation. To integrate microfabricated silicon scales with ferromagnetic elastomer micropillars, transfer printing-based deterministic assembly is adopted. The functional properties of the surface are completely dictated by the scales with optimized lithographic patterns while the micropillar array is magnetically actuated with large-range, instantaneous, and reversible deformation. Multiple functions, such as tunable wetting, droplet manipulation, tunable optical transmission, and structural coloration, are designed, characterized, and analyzed by incorporating a wide range of scales (e.g., bare silicon, black silicon, photonic crystal scales) in both in-plane and out-of-plane configurations.