title: Versatile Particle-Based Route to Engineer Vertically Aligned Silicon Nanowire Arrays and Nanoscale Pores.
abstract: Control over particle self-assembly is a prerequisite for the colloidal templating of lithographical etching masks to define nanostructures. This work integrates and combines for the first time bottom-up and top-down approaches, namely, particle self-assembly at liquid-liquid interfaces and metal-assisted chemical etching, to generate vertically aligned silicon nanowire (VA-SiNW) arrays and, alternatively, arrays of nanoscale pores in a silicon wafer. Of particular importance, and in contrast to current techniques, including conventional colloidal lithography, this approach provides excellent control over the nanowire or pore etching site locations and decouples nanowire or pore diameter and spacing. The spacing between pores or nanowires is tuned by adjusting the specific area of the particles at the liquid-liquid interface before deposition. Hence, the process enables fast and low-cost fabrication of ordered nanostructures in silicon and can be easily scaled up. We demonstrate that the fabricated VA-SiNW arrays can be used as in vitro transfection platforms for transfecting human primary cells.
authors.affiliation: ARC Centre of Excellence in Convergent Bio-Nano Science and Technology, Future Industries Institute, University of South Australia , Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia.
authors.forename: Roey
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Elnathan
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Interfaces, Soft Matter and Assembly, Department of Materials, ETH Zurich , Vladimir-Prelog-Weg 5, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Lucio
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Isa
authors.affiliation: INM-Leibniz Institute for New Materials , Campus D2 2, Saarbrücken 66123, Germany.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Brodoceanu
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Interfaces, Soft Matter and Assembly, Department of Materials, ETH Zurich , Vladimir-Prelog-Weg 5, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Adrienne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nelson
authors.affiliation: ARC Centre of Excellence in Convergent Bio-Nano Science and Technology, Future Industries Institute, University of South Australia , Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia.
authors.forename: Frances J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Harding
authors.affiliation: ARC Centre of Excellence in Convergent Bio-Nano Science and Technology, Future Industries Institute, University of South Australia , Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia.
authors.forename: Bahman
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Delalat
authors.affiliation: INM-Leibniz Institute for New Materials , Campus D2 2, Saarbrücken 66123, Germany.
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kraus
authors.affiliation: ARC Centre of Excellence in Convergent Bio-Nano Science and Technology, Future Industries Institute, University of South Australia , Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia.
authors.forename: Nicolas H
authors.initials: NH
authors.lastname: Voelcker
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D008670:Metals / Q000737:chemistry; D058608:Nanopores; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry*; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D053770:Nanowires / Q000737:chemistry*; D061251:Primary Cell Culture; D012825:Silicon / Q000737:chemistry; D014162:Transfection / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D008670:Metals; D012825:Silicon
keywords: colloidal lithography; gene delivery; human cells; nanobio interfaces; nanomaterials; vertically aligned silicon nanowires