Directed aerosol writing of ordered silica nanostructures on arbitrary surfaces with self-assembling inks.
This paper reports the fabrication of micro- and macropatterns of ordered mesostructured silica on arbitrary flat and curved surfaces using a facile robot-directed aerosol printing process. Starting with a homogenous solution of soluble silica, ethanol, water, and surfactant as a self-assembling ink, a columnated stream of aerosol droplets is directed to the substrate surface. For deposition at room temperature droplet coalescence on the substrates and attendant solvent evaporation result in continuous, highly ordered mesophases. The pattern profiles are varied by changing any number of printing parameters such as material deposition rate, printing speed, and aerosol-head temperature. Increasing the aerosol temperature results in a decrease of the mesostructure ordering, since faster solvent evaporation and enhanced silica condensation at higher temperatures kinetically impede the molecular assembly process. This facile technique provides powerful control of the printed materials at both the nanoscale and microscale through chemical self-assembly and robotic engineering, respectively.
Pang
Jiebin
J
NSF/UNM Center for Micro-Engineered Materials, Department of Chemical and Nuclear Engineering, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA.
Stuecker
John N
JN
Jiang
Yingbing
Y
Bhakta
Ajay J
AJ
Branson
Eric D
ED
Li
Peng
P
Cesarano
Joseph
J
Sutton
David
D
Calvert
Paul
P
Brinker
C Jeffrey
CJ
D000336:Aerosols; D004867:Equipment Design; D007700:Kinetics; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D010316:Particle Size; D012822:Silicon Dioxide / Q000737:chemistry*; D012997:Solvents / Q000737:chemistry; D013499:Surface Properties; D013696:Temperature; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction
D000336:Aerosols; D012997:Solvents; D012822:Silicon Dioxide