Fabrication of a multidomain and ultrafast-switching liquid crystal alignment layer using contact printing with a poly(dimethylsiloxane) stamp

Shaping Metallic Nanolattices: Design by Microcontact Printing from Wrinkled Stamps

A method for the fabrication of well-defined metallic nanostructures is presented here in a simple and straightforward fashion. As an alternative to lithographic techniques, this routine employs microcontact printing utilizing wrinkled stamps, which are prepared from polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), and includes the formation of hydrophobic stripe patterns on a substrate via the transfer of oligomeric PDMS. Subsequent backfilling of the interspaces between these stripes with a hydroxyl-functional poly(2-vinyl pyridine) then provides the basic pattern for the deposition of citrate-stabilized gold nanoparticles promoted by electrostatic interaction. The resulting metallic nanostripes can be further customized by peeling off particles in a second microcontact printing step, which employs poly(ethylene imine) surface-decorated wrinkled stamps, to form nanolattices. Due to the independent adjustability of the period dimensions of the wrinkled stamps and stamp orientation with respect to the substrate, particle arrays on the (sub)micro-scale with various kinds of geometries are accessible in a straightforward fashion. This work provides an alternative, cost-effective, and scalable surface-patterning technique to fabricate nanolattice structures applicable to multiple types of functional nanoparticles. Being a top-down method, this process could be readily implemented into, e.g., the fabrication of optical and sensing devices on a large scale.

Non-contact analysis of the adsorptive ink capacity of nano silica pigments on a printing coating base

Near infrared spectra combined with partial least squares were proposed as a means of non-contact analysis of the adsorptive ink capacity of recording coating materials in ink jet printing. First, the recording coating materials were prepared based on nano silica pigments. 80 samples of the recording coating materials were selected to develop the calibration of adsorptive ink capacity against ink adsorption (g/m²). The model developed predicted samples in the validation set with r²  = 0.80 and SEP  = 1.108, analytical results showed that near infrared spectra had significant potential for the adsorption of ink capacity on the recording coating. The influence of factors such as recording coating thickness, mass ratio silica: binder-polyvinyl alcohol and the solution concentration on the adsorptive ink capacity were studied. With the help of the near infrared spectra, the adsorptive ink capacity of a recording coating material can be rapidly controlled.

Fabrication of 10 nm-scale complex 3D nanopatterns with multiple shapes and components by secondary sputtering phenomenon

We introduce an advanced ultrahigh-resolution (∼ 15 nm) patterning technique that enables the fabrication of various 3D high aspect ratio multicomponents/shaped nanostructures. This methodology utilizes the repetitive secondary sputtering phenomenon under etching plasma conditions and prepatterned fabrication control. The secondary sputtering phenomenon repetitively generates an angular distribution of target particles during ion-bombardment. This method, advanced repetitive secondary sputtering lithography, provides many strategies to fabricate complex continuous patterns and multilayer/material patterns with 10 nm-scale resolution. To demonstrate the versatility of this method, we show induced vertical alignment of liquid crystals (LCs) on indium-tin-oxide (ITO) grid patterns without any alignment layers. The ITO grid pattern fabricated in this method is found to have not only an alignment capability but also electrode properties without electrical or optical damage.