Polymer brush hypersurface photolithography
Open Access
- 6 March 2020
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in Nature Communications
- Vol. 11 (1), 1-8
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-14990-x
Abstract
Polymer brush patterns have a central role in established and emerging research disciplines, from microarrays and smart surfaces to tissue engineering. The properties of these patterned surfaces are dependent on monomer composition, polymer height, and brush distribution across the surface. No current lithographic method, however, is capable of adjusting each of these variables independently and with micrometer-scale resolution. Here we report a technique termed Polymer Brush Hypersurface Photolithography, which produces polymeric pixels by combining a digital micromirror device (DMD), an air-free reaction chamber, and microfluidics to independently control monomer composition and polymer height of each pixel. The printer capabilities are demonstrated by preparing patterns from combinatorial polymer and block copolymer brushes. Images from polymeric pixels are created using the light reflected from a DMD to photochemically initiate atom-transfer radical polymerization from initiators immobilized on Si/SiO2 wafers. Patterning is combined with high-throughput analysis of grafted-from polymerization kinetics, accelerating reaction discovery, and optimization of polymer coatings.Keywords
Funding Information
- National Science Foundation (DBI-1661702, DGE-1144086)
- United States Department of Defense | United States Air Force | AFMC | Air Force Office of Scientific Research (FA9550-17-0356)
- U.S. Department of Defense (FA9550-16-1-0150)
This publication has 56 references indexed in Scilit:
- Directional Migration of Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells Guided by a Molecule Weight Gradient of Poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) BrushesLangmuir, 2013
- Density Variant Glycan Microarray for Evaluating Cross-Linking of Mucin-like Glycoconjugates by LectinsJournal of the American Chemical Society, 2012
- Protein Microarrays Based on Polymer Brushes Prepared via Surface-Initiated Atom Transfer Radical PolymerizationBiomacromolecules, 2010
- Emerging applications of stimuli-responsive polymer materialsNature Materials, 2010
- Fabrication of 3D biocompatible/biodegradable micro-scaffolds using dynamic mask projection microstereolithographyJournal of the American Academy of Dermatology, 2009
- Microreplication and Design of Biological Architectures Using Dynamic‐Mask Multiphoton LithographySmall, 2009
- Tailoring Cell Adhesion Using Surface‐Grafted Polymer Gradient AssembliesAdvanced Materials, 2005
- Fabrication of Stimulus-Responsive Nanopatterned Polymer Brushes by Scanning-Probe LithographyNano Letters, 2004
- Synthesis of Polymer Brushes Using Atom Transfer Radical PolymerizationMacromolecular Rapid Communications, 2003
- A Versatile Method for Tuning the Chemistry and Size of Nanoscopic Features by Living Free Radical PolymerizationJournal of the American Chemical Society, 2003