• Matt_s Swirls

Featured VISUAL Image

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Comet Networking or PS on PHEMA3

The image presented above displays the wrinkling of a material similar to the polymer used in the first soft contact lenses. Wrinkling occurs naturally in many materials from raisins to human skin, but the wrinkled polymer in the image was generated during research on the manipulation of surface properties. The coupling of advanced patterning techniques with specially designed functional polymers has provided the ability to control the size, shape and chemistry of nanoscopic patterns; for example, without magnification, the wrinkled structures shown above would fit within the period at the end of this sentence. This research is opening up new avenues toward the design and fabrication of surfaces that have potential applications in microelectronics, optics, adhesion, and biological systems.

Image produced by the: Kenneth Carter Research Group
Image submitted by: Joe Peterson