Self-closing boxes

Just shine light on these “nets” made from pre-stressed polymer sheet and, according to researchers from North Carolina State University, the nets will fold up into little boxes.

Paper due out in Soft Matter in 2012.

Research Blogging IconLiu, Y., Boyles, J., Genzer, J., & Dickey, M. (2012). Self-folding of polymer sheets using local light absorption Soft Matter DOI: 10.1039/c1sm06564e