We describe the synthesis of nano/micron-scale inorganic structures using soft elastomeric substrates.  Elastic deformations, such as those caused by tensile strain, enable the reversible modification of critical surface-chemical features (e.g., geometry and molecular density) of these “soft” substrates providing a convenient method to dynamically control the surface energy of the crystal growth substrate and the arrangement of the inorganic structures on their surface.  We use this capability to control the surface nucleation and growth of hard, crystalline materials that possess functional (e.g., electronic or optical) properties.  The morphology of these crystals is controlled by the rational manipulation of their spatial arrangement during growth through deformations of the elastomeric substrates.  This approach enables modulation of mass transport, which in surface growth is dominated by crystal proximity effects, to rationally control morphology without the need for surfactants or other approaches.  Specifically, we report the surface-chemical patterning of silicones, such as polydimethylsiloxane, and the use of these materials as substrates for the mineralization of rippled metal chalcogenide nanocrystalline films and metal oxide nanocrystals.  The hybrid hard-soft materials we report are difficult to fabricate directly using other approaches and their physical properties are potentially applicable to soft sensors and electronics and mechano-responsive optical materials.

Controlled synthesis of inorganic nanostructures using soft stretchable substrates

249th National Meeting (2015)

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