Fast Dual-Stimuli-Responsive Dynamic Surface Wrinkles with High Bistability for Smart Windows and Rewritable Optical Displays

The dynamic dual-stimuli-responsive surface wrinkles on a bilayer film with high bistability are unattainable and attractive for the applications of smart windows and optical displays. Here, we report a new strategy in developing moisture and temperature dual-responsive surface wrinkles on the polyvinyl alcohol/polydimethylsiloxane (PVA/PDMS) bilayer film by rationally designing the modulus changes of the PVA skin layer upon moisture and temperature. By optimizing the thickness of the PVA layer to 4.5 μm, the as-prepared surface wrinkles show long-awaited properties, such as fast response time, excellent reversibility without degradation of optical contrast, and high light transmittance modulation, which greatly outperforms the reported surface wrinkles. Moreover, the surface wrinkles on the bilayer film remain highly bistable without additional energy consumption for more than five months in ambient room conditions both in the opaque and transparent states. These promising dual-stimuli-responsive surface wrinkles on bilayer films hold great promises for various applications triggered by moisture and temperature, such as smart windows and rewritable optical displays.