Physical Anchoring‐Assisted Mechanically Guided Assembly for Material‐Independent 3D Mesostructures

Mechanically guided 3D assembly has emerged as a powerful approach for constructing complex mesostructures, but conventional strategies rely on selective chemical bonding between 2D precursors and elastomeric substrates, restricting material compatibility and scalability. Here, we introduce a physical anchoring-based, buckling-guided assembly platform that decouples 3D structure formation from chemical adhesion. The platform employs an elastomeric substrate patterned with an array of rods to achieve robust mechanical fixation, enabling the integration of diverse functional materials, including polymers, metals, water-soluble polymers, and stimuli-responsive systems, independent of their interfacial or mechanical properties. Oxygen plasma surface treatment further reduces adhesion, allowing reliable assembly of freestanding and large-area architectures. As a proof-of-concept, we integrate liquid crystalline networks (LCNs) to demonstrate light-responsive soft robotic systems capable of remote actuation. This physically anchored assembly strategy establishes a general and scalable framework for mesoscale fabrication, expanding material and geometric design freedom for applications in soft robotics, bioelectronics, and multi-material integration.

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Publication Details

Journal
Small
Published
2026-06-16
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.74211
Primary Topic
Advanced Materials and Mechanics
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Physical Anchoring‐Assisted Mechanically Guided Assembly for Material‐Independent 3D Mesostructures

Gooyoon Chung, Jae Hyuk Hwang, Dong‐Gyun Kim, Yoonseok Park et al.
Small
Advanced Materials and Mechanics
article

Physical Anchoring‐Assisted Mechanically Guided Assembly for Material‐Independent 3D Mesostructures

Gooyoon Chung, Jae Hyuk Hwang, Dong‐Gyun Kim, Yoonseok Park, Jeongmin Yoo, Raudel Avila, Pei Liu, Yeonhee HEO
article en

Abstract

Mechanically guided 3D assembly has emerged as a powerful approach for constructing complex mesostructures, but conventional strategies rely on selective chemical bonding between 2D precursors and elastomeric substrates, restricting material compatibility and scalability. Here, we introduce a physical anchoring-based, buckling-guided assembly platform that decouples 3D structure formation from chemical adhesion. The platform employs an elastomeric substrate patterned with an array of rods to achieve robust mechanical fixation, enabling the integration of diverse functional materials, including polymers, metals, water-soluble polymers, and stimuli-responsive systems, independent of their interfacial or mechanical properties. Oxygen plasma surface treatment further reduces adhesion, allowing reliable assembly of freestanding and large-area architectures. As a proof-of-concept, we integrate liquid crystalline networks (LCNs) to demonstrate light-responsive soft robotic systems capable of remote actuation. This physically anchored assembly strategy establishes a general and scalable framework for mesoscale fabrication, expanding material and geometric design freedom for applications in soft robotics, bioelectronics, and multi-material integration.

Small
Institute of Chemical Technology (IN), Kyung Hee University (KR), Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KR), Rice University (US)
Kyung Hee University
Openalex Percentile: Top 12%
Advanced Materials and Mechanics
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