A Review on Hierarchical Origami and Kirigami Structure for Engineering Applications

Origami and kirigami originally serving as the ancient papercraft techniques also provide the way of developing functional hierarchical structures for various engineering applications, for example, stretchable energy devices, wearable sensors, and self-folding scaffolds with tissue engineering, etc. The techniques based on origami/kirigami concept involve folding and cutting of substrates to provide a wide range of applications in different length scale from meter to micro/nanometer size. This simple but unique technique realizes facile and easily accessible modulation of material for mechanical, electrical, and optical properties. Furthermore, development of various origami/kirigami fabrication processes in previous researches has a vast range of material choices, from familiar materials like paper, fabric and metal sheets to advanced materials such as 2D materials and nanocomposites, by introducing computer-aided cutting, lithography/etching and direct-printing process. The modulated characteristics, as exemplified by reconfigurability, ultra-stretchability, and electrical reliability, empower wide fields of researchers to construct functional structures for diverse engineering applications. In this paper, we will discuss on the background of origami/kirigami structures, then introduce fabrication techniques and characterization of the structures and review a wide field of engineering applications like energy harvesting/storage, bioengineering, and healthcare devices for unconventional applications.