Material dents and folds could be engineered into smart surfaces with AI

Wrinkles or dents appearing on material surfaces are often regarded as signs of damage or deformation. In a recent collaborative review paper published in Nano-Micro Letters and titled “Harnessing Surface Instabilities for Functional Materials: Mechanics, Morphology, and Emerging Applications,” researchers from Lingnan University propose that naturally formed surface textures in materials could in the future be combined with artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted design to develop novel functional materials.