Capillary transfer of soft films

Significance Soft films are the basis for an entire class of wearable technologies in flexible electronics and biomedical devices. The capillary transfer approach reported here establishes a rational route for the fast transfer of soft films from liquid onto a solid substrate in a well-defined order that allows achieving deterministic assembly of structures with complex layouts and patterns for applications in the fabrication of flexible electronics, surface wetting structures, and optical devices. The developed theoretical models along with validations from extensive experiments and computational analysis provide a fundamental understanding of solid-liquid interactions in response to external mechanical stimuli that can be leveraged in the exploration of emerging fabrication and self-assembly technologies with a broad scope of materials and liquid environments.