Stretchable bioinspired compound eye structures with curved microlens arrays via a dry-phase rubbing process

A stretchable bioinspired compound (BIC) eye structure with a combination of dispensing and dry-phase rubbing processes is proposed as a printed optical component. A hemispherical macrolens is formed by the dispensing method, followed by a dry-phase rubbing process for arranging microparticles in monolayers onto the curved surface of the macrolens. This hierarchical structure is replicated in soft materials, which have intrinsic stretchability. A microlens array is formed on the surface of the macrolens and acts as a rigid island, thereby maintaining lens shape and resolution even though mechanical strain is applied to the overall hierarchical structures and the shape of the macrolens is changed.