Polymer brushes, polymers tethering one end of a surface, are powerful materials for tailoring the surface functionality and morphology towards a wide variety of applications ranging from optical and electronic devices to stem cell researches. In contrast to the 1D and 2D patterns, the fabrication and engineering of well-defined 3D structures of polymer brushes are still in the early stage of development because of the remarkable complexity in simultaneous alignment of the in-plane lateral spacing and the out-of-plane height. This talk will introduce a scanning probe based nanotechnology developed in our laboratory, namely Dip-Pen Nanodisplacement Lithography (DNL), for the fabrication of 3D patterned polymer brushes. The mechanism and attributes of DNL will be firstly discussed. Subsequently, we will focus on how to fabricate 3D patterned polymer brushes by controlling the density of polymer chains or the spacing between nanofeatures made of polymer brushes. Finally, we will introduce some latest development of parallel DNL using multiple cantilevers.<br/><br/>Ref:<br/>Science 2008, 321, 1658; Nanoscale 2011, 3, 4929; Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2011, 50, 6506; Small 2012, 8, 3568; Small 2013, 9, 2851.

Dip-pen nanodisplacement lithography: A versatile tool for constructing patterned 3D polymer surfaces

251st National Meeting (2016)

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