Cutting and Folding for Tunable Materials Properties

The mechanical properties of 2-dimensional materials are traditionally associated to its microstructure and composition. As a consequence, useful properties such as extensibility can only be achieved at sacrifice of others. Inspired by kirigami, the Japanese art of paper cutting, we develop a geometrical approach to tune the mechanical properties of metasurfaces based on post-fabrication, large-scale periodic arrays of cuts. Utilizing complementary simulations and experiments, we demonstrate how strength and extensibility can be optimized by the choice of different cut geometries. We also show that the electrical conductance of paper infiltrated with single-walled nanotubes remains constant over the strain regime, opening the possibilities for the manufacture of flexible and reconfigurable materials with targeted conductivity, strength and extensibility.