Functional patterned coatings by thin polymer film dewetting

Andrew M Telford; Stuart C Thickett; Chiara Neto

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2017.07.004

Functional patterned coatings by thin polymer film dewetting

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2017 Dec 1:507:453-469. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2017.07.004. Epub 2017 Jul 4.

Authors

Andrew M Telford¹, Stuart C Thickett², Chiara Neto³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK.
² School of Physical Sciences (Chemistry), University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS 7005, Australia.
³ School of Chemistry and the Australian Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. Electronic address: Chiara.neto@sydney.edu.au.

PMID: 28756853
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2017.07.004

Abstract

An approach for the fabrication of functional polymer surface coatings is introduced, where micro-scale structure and surface functionality are obtained by means of self-assembly mechanisms. We illustrate two main applications of micro-patterned polymer surfaces obtained through dewetting of bilayers of thin polymer films. By tuning the physical and chemical properties of the polymer bilayers, micro-patterned surface coatings could be produced that have applications both for the selective attachment and patterning of proteins and cells, with potential applications as biomaterials, and for the collection of water from the atmosphere. In all cases, the aim is to achieve functional coatings using approaches that are simple to realize, use low cost materials and are potentially scalable.

Keywords: Micro-patterning; Polymer coatings; Self-assembly; Thin film dewetting.