Slippery or sticky boundary conditions: Control of wrinkling in metal-capped thin polymer films by selective adhesion to substrates

Wrinkling patterns at the metallized surface of thin polymer films are shown to be sensitive to the sticky or slippery character of the polymer-substrate interface. Existing theoretical models were expanded to specific boundary conditions (adhesive versus slippery) in order to rationalize these observations. Based on this concept, we were able to propose a new and simple method to orient the wrinkles by chemically patterning the substrate with regions of high and low adhesion.