The fundamental topology of cellular structures—the location, number and connectivity of nodes and compartments—can profoundly affect their acoustic^1,2,3,4, electrical⁵, chemical^6,7, mechanical^8,9,10 and optical¹¹ properties, as well as heat^1,12, fluid^13,14 and particle transport¹⁵. Approaches that harness swelling^16,17,18, electromagnetic actuation^19,20 and mechanical instabilities^21,22,23 in cellular materials have enabled a variety of interesting wall deformations and compartment shape alterations, but the resulting structures generally preserve the defining connectivity features of the initial topology. Achieving topological transformation presents a distinct challenge for existing strategies: it requires complex reorganization, repacking, and coordinated bending, stretching and folding, particularly around each node, where elastic resistance is highest owing to connectivity. Here we introduce a two-tiered dynamic strategy that achieves systematic reversible transformations of the fundamental topology of cellular microstructures, which can be applied to a wide range of materials and geometries. Our approach requires only exposing the structure to a selected liquid that is able to first infiltrate and plasticize the material at the molecular scale, and then, upon evaporation, form a network of localized capillary forces at the architectural scale that ‘zip’ the edges of the softened lattice into a new topological structure, which subsequently restiffens and remains kinetically trapped. Reversibility is induced by applying a mixture of liquids that act separately at the molecular and architectural scales (thus offering modular temporal control over the softening–evaporation–stiffening sequence) to restore the original topology or provide access to intermediate modes. Guided by a generalized theoretical model that connects cellular geometries, material stiffness and capillary forces, we demonstrate programmed reversible topological transformations of various lattice geometries and responsive materials that undergo fast global or localized deformations. We then harness dynamic topologies to develop active surfaces with information encryption, selective particle trapping and bubble release, as well as tunable mechanical, chemical and acoustic properties.

细胞结构的基本拓扑结构——节点和隔室的位置、数量和连通性——可以深刻地影响它们的声学^1,2,3,4，电学⁵，化学^6,7，机械学^8,9,10和光学¹¹属性，以及热量^1,12，流体^13,14和粒子传输¹⁵。利用膨胀^16、17、18、电磁驱动^19、20和机械不稳定性^{21、22、23的方法}在蜂窝材料中，已经实现了各种有趣的壁变形和隔室形状改变，但由此产生的结构通常保留了初始拓扑的定义连接特征。实现拓扑变换对现有策略提出了明显的挑战：它需要复杂的重组、重新包装和协调弯曲、拉伸和折叠，特别是在每个节点周围，由于连接性，弹性阻力最高。在这里，我们介绍了一种两层动态策略，该策略实现了细胞微结构基本拓扑结构的系统可逆变换，可应用于各种材料和几何形状。我们的方法只需要将结构暴露在选定的液体中，该液体能够首先在分子尺度上渗透和塑化材料，然后在蒸发时在建筑尺度上形成局部毛细力网络，“拉开”边缘软化的晶格变成了一个新的拓扑结构，随后又重新变硬并保持动力学捕获。可逆性是通过应用在分子和结构尺度上分别起作用的液体混合物来诱导的（从而提供对软化-蒸发-硬化序列的模块化时间控制）以恢复原始拓扑结构或提供对中间模式的访问。在连接细胞几何形状、材料刚度和毛细力的广义理论模型的指导下，我们展示了各种晶格几何形状和响应材料的程序可逆拓扑转换，这些材料经历了快速的全局或局部变形。然后，我们利用动态拓扑开发具有信息加密、选择性粒子捕获和气泡释放以及可调机械、化学和声学特性的活性表面。