Taking inspiration from ferns to manufacture small-scale shape-morphing devices

The fern sporangium uses capillary pressure at the scale of the cells to unbend the whole structure and release the spores. We will mimic this deformation mechanism by impregnating soft textured sheets that curl when the liquid evaporates. We will derive an analytical model to predict under which conditions such a curling occurs. I will additionally show that the shape of the deformed structure can be easily inverse programmed since its final curvature is directly related to the local textures’ geometry.