Liquid-induced topological transformations of cellular microstructures

The fundamental topology of cellular structures - the location, number, and connectivity of nodes and compartments - can profoundly impact their acoustic, electrical, chemical, mechanical, and optical properties, as well as heat, fluid and particle transport. Here we introduce a two-tiered dynamic strategy to achieve systematic reversible transformations of the fundamental topology of cellular microstructures that can be applied to a wide range of material compositions and geometries. Our approach only requires exposing the structure to a liquid whose composition is selected to have the ability to first infiltrate and soften the material at the molecular scale, and then, upon evaporation, to form a network of localized capillary forces at the architectural scale that zip the edges of the softened lattice into a new topological structure, which subsequently re-stiffens and remains kinetically trapped. We then harness dynamic topologies for developing active surfaces with information encryption, selective particle trapping, and tunable mechanical, chemical and acoustic properties, as well as multi-stimuli actuation.