Low-cost, durable master molds for thermal-NIL, UV-NIL, and injection molding.

Mold cost and mold lifetime are essential concerns for mass production of micro/nano-patterned surfaces by nanoimprint lithography or micro/nanoinjection molding. Master molds are typically produced by subtractive processing using wafer-based clean room techniques. For imprint lithography, polymer copies of such molds can often be employed, but the durability of such molds is quite limited.

Gecko-Inspired Biocidal Organic Nanocrystals Initiated from a Pencil-Drawn Graphite Template.

The biocidal properties of gecko skin and cicada wings have inspired the synthesis of synthetic surfaces decorated with high aspect ratio nanostructures that inactivate microorganisms. Here, we investigate the bactericidal activity of oriented zinc phthalocyanine (ZnPc) nanopillars grown using a simple pencil-drawn graphite templating technique. By varying the evaporation time, nanopillars initiated from graphite that was scribbled using a pencil onto silicon substrates were optimized to yield a high inactivation of the Gram-negative bacteria, Escherichia coli.

Bioinspired Photocatalytic Shark-Skin Surfaces with Antibacterial and Antifouling Activity via Nanoimprint Lithography.

By combining antifouling shark-skin patterns with antibacterial titanium dioxide (TiO) nanoparticles (NPs), we present a simple route toward producing durable multifunctional surfaces that decrease microbial attachment and inactivate attached microorganisms. Norland Optical Adhesive, a UV-crosslinkable adhesive material, was loaded with 0, 10, or 50 wt % TiO NPs from which shark-skin microstructures were imprinted using solvent-assisted soft nanoimprint lithography on a poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) substrate. To obtain coatings with an exceptional durability and an even higher concentration of TiO NPs, a solution containing 90 wt % TiO NPs and 10 wt % tetraethyl orthosilicate was prepared.