title: Polymer Brushes as Functional, Patterned Surfaces for Nanobiotechnology.
abstract: Polymer brushes have many desirable characteristics such as the ability to tether molecules to a substrate or change the properties of a surface. Patterning of polymer films has been an area of great interest due to the broad range of applications including bio-related and medicinal research. Consequently, we have investigated patterning techniques for polymer brushes which allow for two different functionalities on the same surface. This method has been applied to a biosensor device which requires both polymer brushes and a photosensitizer to be polymerized on a patterned gold substrate. Additionally, the nature of patterned polymer brushes as removable thin films was explored. An etching process has enabled us to lift off very thin membranes for further characterization with the potential of using them as Janus membranes for biological applications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA ; Department of Materials Science & Engineering Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.
authors.forename: M Elizabeth
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Welch
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science & Engineering Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Youyong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Hongjun
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Norah
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Michele E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Tague
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Héctor D
authors.initials: HD
authors.lastname: Abruña
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Baird
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA ; Department of Materials Science & Engineering Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Ober
keywords: Polymer brushes; lift off; multifunctional surfaces; patterning; thin films