Pre-structured Surfaces Research Articles

Positional control of DNA origami based gold dimer hybrid nanostructures on pre-structured surfaces

This study explores important parameters for achieving a high-level positional control of DNA-nanoparticle hybrid structures by drop-casting onto a pre-structured silicon surface, in which the active adsorption sites were defined using electron beam lithography. By confining the adsorption sites to the scale of the DNA origami, we create multi-dimensional patterns and study the effect of diffusion and hybrid nanostructure concentration in the liquid on site occupation. We also propose a physical diffusion model that highlights the importance of surface diffusion in facilitating the adsorption of hybrid nanostructure onto active sites, particularly for two and one-dimensional adsorption sites. Our study shows prominent results of the hybrid nanostructure’s selective adsorption, indicating high adsorption efficiency and precise control over the position, as well as the spatial orientation. We anticipate similar results in related systems, both in terms of different surfaces and similar DNA structures. Overall, our findings offer promising prospects for the development of large-scale nanoarrays on micrometer-scale surfaces with nanometer precision and orientation control.

Bifunctional Bioactive Polymer Surfaces with Micrometer and Submicrometer-sized Structure: The Effects of Structure Spacing and Elastic Modulus on Bioactivity.

This study presents a comparison of two types of bifunctional structured surface that were made from the same polymer—an antimicrobial polycation (a synthetic mimic of an antimicrobial peptide, SMAMP) and a protein-repellent polyzwitterion (poly(sulfobetaines), PSB). The first type of bifunctional surface was fabricated by a colloidal lithography (CL) based process where the two polymers were immobilized sequentially onto pre-structured surfaces with a chemical contrast (gold on silicon). This enabled site-selective covalent attachment. The CL materials had a spacing ranging from 200 nm to 2 µm. The second type of structured surface (spacing: 1–8.5 µm) was fabricated using a microcontact printing (µCP) process where SMAMP patches were printed onto a PSB network, so that 3D surface features were obtained. The thus obtained materials were studied by quantitative nanomechanical measurements using atomic force microscopy (QNM-AFM). The different architectures led to different local elastic moduli at the polymer-air interface, where the CL surfaces were much stiffer (Derjaguin-Muller-Toporov (DMT) modulus = 20 ± 0.8 GPa) compared to the structured 3D networks obtained by µCP (DMT modulus = 42 ± 1.1 MPa). The effects of the surface topology and stiffness on the antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli, the protein repellency (using fibrinogen), and the compatibility with human gingival mucosal keratinocytes were investigated. The softer 3D µCP surfaces had simultaneous antimicrobial activity, protein repellency, and cell compatibility at all spacings. For the stiffer CL surfaces, quantitative simultaneous antimicrobial activity and protein repellency was not obtained. However, the cell compatibility could be maintained at all spacings. The optimum spacing for the CL materials was in the range of 500 nm–1 µm, with significantly reduced antimicrobial activity at 2 µm spacing. Thus, the soft polymer network obtained by µCP could be more easily optimized than the stiff CL surface, and had a broader topology range of optimal or near-optimal bioactivity.

Fabrication and Characterization of Nanostructured Thermoelectric Materials and Devices

ABSTRACTWe present results of modeling and experimental characterization of thermoelectric (TE) materials built on new fabrication principles, involving the coating of three-dimensionally structured quantum well super-lattice substrates with PbTe/PbSe. A new system for wafer-scale electrochemical deposition of such structures was specifically developed and will be described in this paper. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to measure film thickness and electron diffraction spectroscopy (EDS) was used to determine film material concentration. By adjusting deposition parameters, we were able to build stoichiometric PbSe, PbTe and stacked PbSe/PbTe super-lattice films on planar and pre-structured surfaces. The films were thermoelectrically modelled using COMSOL and then characterized using an infrared Seebeck effect measurement system which measured surface heating of the film while measuring the voltage associated with the temperature gradient. We report advances in the design and fabrication of TE materials which improve cost-effectiveness and TE efficiency.

Structured attachment of bacterial molecular motors for defined microflow induction

AbstractBacterial rotational motor complexes that propel flagellated bacteria possess unique properties like their size of a few nanometres and the ability of selfreproduction that have led to various exciting applications including biohybrid nano-machines. One mandatory prerequisite to utilize bacterial nano motors in fluid applications is the ability to transfer force and torque to the fluid, which usually can be achieved by attachment of the bacterial cell to adequate surfaces. Additionally, for optimal transfer of force or torque, precise control of the position down to the single cell level is of utmost importance. Based on a PIV (particle image velocimetry) evaluation of the induced flow of single bacteria,we propose and demonstrate attachment of arbitrary patterns of motile bacterial cells in a fast light-based two-step process for the first time to our knowledge. First, these cells are pre-structured by holographic optical tweezers and then attached to a homogeneous, polystyrene-coated surface. In contrast to the few approaches that have been implemented up to now and which rely on pre-structured surfaces, our scheme allows for precise control on a single bacterium level, is versatile, interactive and has low requirements with respect to the surface preparation.

Single-step 3D nanolithography using plasma polymerized hexane films

► Fabrication of nanostructures in 3D is an area of increased interest. ► Using plasma polymerized resists allows for conformal coating. ► Enables high resolution nanostructures to be defined on existing topography. ► Demonstrator shown: line grating at top and bottom of 20 μm trench. The fabrication of nanostructured textures on top of a microstructured topography is a topic of considerable interest, with a number of different approaches having been proposed, most of which are either cumbersome, or represent a radical departure from standard fabrication processes. In this work, we present a simple fabrication scheme for obtaining nanopatterned structures in 3D. The scheme relies on the use of plasma polymerized hexane as an electron beam resist. We utilize the unique property of plasma polymerization where the films are deposited with conformal coverage across pre-structured surfaces. This enables high resolution electron beam lithography to be performed on a pre-patterned/etched substrate. As a demonstrator, we show that nanometric line gratings can be produced at both the top and bottom surfaces of preetcheded, 15–20 μm deep, box arrays. The final structure can be replicated in PDMS, to provide a soft working stamp for subsequent 3D patterning.

Lipid multilayer gratings

The interaction of electromagnetic waves with matter can be controlled by structuring the matter on the scale of the wavelength of light, and various photonic components have been made by structuring materials using top-down or bottom-up approaches. Dip-pen nanolithography is a scanning-probe-based fabrication technique that can be used to deposit materials on surfaces with high resolution and, when carried out in parallel, with high throughput. Here, we show that lyotropic optical diffraction gratings--composed of biofunctional lipid multilayers with controllable heights between approximately 5 and 100 nm--can be fabricated by lipid dip-pen nanolithography. Multiple materials can be simultaneously written into arbitrary patterns on pre-structured surfaces to generate complex structures and devices, allowing nanostructures to be interfaced by combinations of top-down and bottom-up fabrication methods. We also show that fluid and biocompatible lipid multilayer gratings allow label-free and specific detection of lipid-protein interactions in solution. This biosensing capability takes advantage of the adhesion properties of the phospholipid superstructures and the changes in the size and shape of the grating elements that take place in response to analyte binding.

Self-assembled lead atomic nanowires on pre-structured Sm/Si(1 1 1) interfaces

The (3 × 2) and (7 × 1) chain structures induced by the adsorption of Sm atoms on Si(1 1 1) substrate are used as template to create self-assembled nanowires. Their structure models are based on an appropriate combination of honeycomb chain channel (HCC) and Seiwatz Si chains. In our study, Pb atoms are evaporated on these pre-structured surfaces. Our STM observations reveal the presence of well-aligned Pb nanowires running along the [ 1 1 ¯ 0 ] direction on the (7 × 1)-Sm/Si(1 1 1) structure whereas they are not formed on the (3 × 2)-Sm/Si(1 1 1) phase whatever the growth conditions. A thorough examination of the high resolution STM images reveals that the Pb preferentially grows onto the Seiwatz chains along the Sm rows, suggesting that the Seiwatz chains are the most reactive sites on the (7 × 1)-Sm/Si(1 1 1) surface. The difference of Pb reactivity on these surfaces illustrates the influence of bond energy and strain on the surface induced by the both HCC and Seiwatz Si chains in the growth of nanowires. The influence of thermal conditions on the Pb nanowires formation is also discussed.

Ultraviolet-emitting ZnO nanowhiskers prepared by a vapor transport process on prestructured surfaces with self-assembled polymers

ZnO wires were grown by a vapor–liquid–solid phase transport process. Self-assembled Au nano-clusters act as a catalyst or seed for the highly oriented growth of so-called ZnO whiskers on sapphire substrates by a vapor–liquid–solid phase transport process. The ZnO nanowires were more than 500 nm high and smaller than 30 nm in diameter. Low-temperature photoluminescence measurements reveal intense and detailed ultraviolet light emission near the opitical band gap of ZnO at 3.37 eV. The ZnO nanowires show almost no broad green photoluminescence emission band related to oxygen defects and only a weak signal due to donor–acceptor pair recombination. X-ray diffraction proves that the ZnO wires were grown c-plane oriented on an a-plane sapphire substrate with high crystal quality most likely because of a kind of self-purification during the growth process.