https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/s10189-021-00056-3
Regular Article - Soft Matter
Lattice model for self-folding at the microscale
1
Centro de Física Teórica e Computacional, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, 1749-016, Lisboa, Portugal
2
Centro de Física das Universidades do Minho e do Porto, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal
3
Departamento de Física, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, 1749-016, Lisboa, Portugal
Received:
17
February
2021
Accepted:
14
March
2021
Published online:
30
March
2021
Three-dimensional shell-like structures can be obtained spontaneously at the microscale from the self-folding of 2D templates of rigid panels. At least for simple structures, the motion of each panel is consistent with a Brownian process and folding occurs through a sequence of binding events, where pairs of panels meet at a specific closing angle. Here, we propose a lattice model to describe the dynamics of self-folding. As an example, we study the folding of a pyramid of N lateral faces. We combine analytical and numerical Monte Carlo simulations to find how the folding time depends on the number of faces, closing angle, and initial configuration. Implications for the study of more complex structures are discussed.
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to EDP Sciences, SIF and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2021
