Adhesion Directed Capillary Origami

Capillary forces are often used to provide the force needed to create simple origami structures from thin films. Until recently, the adhesive component of these systems has been largely avoided or ignored, resulting in structures which are not stable after the drop disappears.  This work explores the relations between a film and a substrate specifically focusing on what allows a film to be peeled from a patterned substrate by a capillary drop and what would allow structures to become fixed in place.  We use the results to demonstrate how to guide peel fronts along specific paths with patterned substrates and how a “racquet” bend – a fold that is held in place due to adhesion rather than plasticity -- can be used to fix structures in place.  The results of this work allow the demonstration of complex, multi-step structures permanent structures created with capillary drops.