Spontaneous Rippling and Subsequent Polymer Molding on Yttria-Stabilized Zirconia (110) Surfaces.
Spontaneous nanoripple formation on (110) surfaces of yttria-stabilized zirconia, YSZ-(110), is achieved by diffusional surface doping with rare-earth oxides. Periodic arrays of parallel nanobars separated by channels (period ∼100 nm) grow out of the dopant sources, covering relatively wide areas of the surface (∼10 μm). The nanobars mound up on the surface by diffusion, exhibiting morphological uniformity and alignment, with their long axis lying parallel to the [11̅0] direction in the YSZ-(110) surface. The process for forming these nanobar arrays can be as simple as sprinkling of rare-earth oxide powder (dopant source) on YSZ-(110) surface and annealing in a high temperature air furnace. However, higher control on dopant dispersion on the surface is demonstrated with other techniques, including photolithography and inkjet printing. The ripple arrays extend anisotropically on the (110) surface, obeying the parabolic growth law, and showing principal values of the rate constant along [11̅0] (maximum) and [001] (minimum), as expected from the symmetry of the (110) surface. The self-patterned ceramic substrates are well-suited for pattern transfer by replica molding, as illustrated by single-step molding with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), which is a widely used biomaterial in cell-culture studies.
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The Ohio State University , Columbus, Ohio 43210, United States.|School of Chemical and Materials Engineering, National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) , H-12, Islamabad, Pakistan.
Haris M
0000-0002-7321-5358
HM
Ansari
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The Ohio State University , Columbus, Ohio 43210, United States.
Zhiyuan
Z
Niu
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The Ohio State University , Columbus, Ohio 43210, United States.
Chen
C
Ge
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The Ohio State University , Columbus, Ohio 43210, United States.
Suliman A
SA
Dregia
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The Ohio State University , Columbus, Ohio 43210, United States.
Sheikh A
0000-0003-3567-274X
SA
Akbar
nanobars; nanoimprinting; rare-earth oxides; self-assembly; surface patterning