title: Tunable Nanopatterning of Conductive Polymers via Electrohydrodynamic Lithography.
abstract: An increasing number of technologies require the fabrication of conductive structures on a broad range of scales and over large areas. Here, we introduce advanced yet simple electrohydrodynamic lithography (EHL) for patterning conductive polymers directly on a substrate with high fidelity. We illustrate the generality of this robust, low-cost method by structuring thin polypyrrole films via electric-field-induced instabilities, yielding well-defined conductive structures with feature sizes ranging from tens of micrometers to hundreds of nanometers. Exploitation of a conductive polymer induces free charge suppression of the field in the polymer film, paving the way for accessing scale sizes in the low submicron range. We show the feasibility of the polypyrrole-based structures for field-effect transistor devices. Controlled EHL pattering of conductive polymer structures at the micro and nano scale demonstrated in this study combined with the possibility of effectively tuning the dimensions of the tailor-made architectures might herald a route toward various submicron device applications in supercapacitors, photovoltaics, sensors, and electronic displays.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical Engineering, University of Birmingham , Birmingham B15 2TT, United Kingdom.|Department of Physics, Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge , Cambridge CB3 0HE, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Jonathan James Stanley
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Rickard
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge , Cambridge CB3 0HE, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Farrer
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical Engineering, University of Birmingham , Birmingham B15 2TT, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Pola Goldberg
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Oppenheimer
mesh_terms: D004553:Electric Conductivity; D004867:Equipment Design; D057446:Hydrodynamics; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D011758:Pyrroles / Q000737:chemistry*; D014173:Transistors, Electronic
chemical_list: D011108:Polymers; D011758:Pyrroles; C067635:polypyrrole
keywords: conductive polymers; electrohydrodynamic lithography; field-effect transistors; leaky dielectrics