Scientists have developed a cheap and easy way to create specific patterns of tiny wrinkles on the surface of a flexible and commonly used polymer—a technique that could be used to fabricate an assortment of microdevices.
Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), the soft polymer that’s the main ingredient in Silly Putty, also comes in transparent, pliable sheets in which some of the material’s long-chain molecules are chemically cross-linked, says John W.