Polymer surfaces with well-defined patterns at multiple length scales are desired for applications in controlled adhesion, hydrophobic surfaces, cell alignment, and microelectronic devices. Recently, there has been growing interest in the design of hierarchical polymer bilayer (i.e. stiff skin on elastomeric substrate) surfaces using surface wrinkling to generate patterned surfaces. The fabrication of patterned polymer surfaces has been accomplished by various techniques, such as laser ablation, etching, chemical deposition, and soft lithography. Recent efforts in our group reported a simple route to engineer wrinkled ultrathin polymer brush surfaces using post-polymerization modification (PPM), where the length scale (nanometers to microns) was tunable via post-modification reaction time. However, the application of isotropic stress to a bilayer polymer brush surface with isotropic boundary conditions typically results in the formation of wrinkles with no preferred orientations. For many applications, ordered and aligned surface structures are desired. Herein, we report our recent efforts to manipulate wrinkle orientation utilizing soft lithography techniques to template the PPM process. This presentation will highlight our efforts using microcontact stamping and microcapillary patterning techniques during the PPM reaction to guide wrinkle formation and orientation.

Manipulation of wrinkle orientation in ultrathin polymer brush surfaces via soft lithography techniques

255th National Meeting (2018)

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