Light activated folding of hydrogel sheets into origami inspired 3D structures

Origami is the ancient art of folding paper which has been shown to have great impact in the field of modern science and technology. Self-folding structures can further enhance its influence by allowing for autonomous shape transformation with applications in the fields of robotics, meta-materials, etc. Light can provide a convenient way to remotely manipulate these foldable structures. To this end, we report our theoretical work on the light induced deformations in spiropyran based hydrogel systems and the design of self-folding origami structures using this photo-active material. Using finite element analysis, we can predict the final 3D shape of these structures and the results have been found to be in good agreement with the empirical results.