title: Template-controlled mineralization: Determining film granularity and structure by surface functionality patterns.
abstract: We present a promising first example towards controlling the properties of a self-assembling mineral film by means of the functionality and polarity of a substrate template. In the presented case, a zinc oxide film is deposited by chemical bath deposition on a nearly topography-free template structure composed of a pattern of two self-assembled monolayers with different chemical functionality. We demonstrate the template-modulated morphological properties of the growing film, as the surface functionality dictates the granularity of the growing film. This, in turn, is a key property influencing other film properties such as conductivity, piezoelectric activity and the mechanical properties. A very pronounced contrast is observed between areas with an underlying fluorinated, low energy template surface, showing a much more (almost two orders of magnitude) coarse-grained film with a typical agglomerate size of around 75 nm. In contrast, amino-functionalized surface areas induce the growth of a very smooth, fine-grained surface with a roughness of around 1 nm. The observed influence of the template on the resulting clear contrast in morphology of the growing film could be explained by a contrast in surface adhesion energies and surface diffusion rates of the nanoparticles, which nucleate in solution and subsequently deposit on the functionalized substrate.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Materials Science, University of Stuttgart, Heisenbergstraße 3, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany.
authors.forename: Nina J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Blumenstein
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nanotechnology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, D-76344, Germany ; Institute of Applied Physics and Center for Functional Nanostructures, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Wolfgang-Gaede-Strasse 1, D-76131 Karlsruhe, Germany.
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Berson
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nanotechnology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, D-76344, Germany ; Institute of Applied Physics and Center for Functional Nanostructures, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Wolfgang-Gaede-Strasse 1, D-76131 Karlsruhe, Germany.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Walheim
authors.affiliation: Institute for Materials Science, University of Stuttgart, Heisenbergstraße 3, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany.
authors.forename: Petia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Atanasova
authors.affiliation: Institute for Materials Science, University of Stuttgart, Heisenbergstraße 3, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany.
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Baier
authors.affiliation: Institute for Materials Science, University of Stuttgart, Heisenbergstraße 3, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany.
authors.forename: Joachim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bill
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nanotechnology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, D-76344, Germany ; Institute of Applied Physics and Center for Functional Nanostructures, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Wolfgang-Gaede-Strasse 1, D-76131 Karlsruhe, Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Schimmel
keywords: bioinspired synthesis; polymer-blend lithography; surface functionality; template-controlled self-assembly; zinc oxide thin film