Ultrasmooth Polydopamine Modified Surfaces for Block Copolymer Nanopatterning on Flexible Substrates

作者：Cho Joon Hee; Katsumata Reika; Zhou Sunshine X; Bin Kim Chae; Dulaney Austin R; Janes Dustin W; Ellison Christopher J^*

来源：ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2016, 8(11): 7456-7463.

DOI：10.1021/acsami.6b00626

• block copolymer (BCP)
• polydopamine (PDA)
• surface modification
• flexible substrates
• conformal coating
• solution deposition
• self-assembly
• nanopatterning

Nature has engineered universal, catechol-containing adhesives which can be synthetically mimicked in the form of polydopamine (PDA). In this study, PDA was exploited to enable the formation of block copolymer (BCP) nanopatterns on a variety of soft material surfaces. While conventional PDA coating times (1 h) produce a layer too rough for most applications of BCP nanopatterning, we found that these substrates could be polished by bath sonication in a weakly basic solution to form a conformal, smooth (root-mean-square roughness similar to 0.4 nm), and thin (3 nm) layer free of large prominent granules. This chemically functionalized, biomimetic layer served as a reactive platform for subsequently grafting a surface neutral layer of poly(styrene-random-methyl methacrylate-random-glycidyl methacrylate) to perpendicularly orient lamellae-forming poly(styrene-block-methyl methacrylate) BCP. Moreover, scanning electron microscopy observations confirmed that a BCP nanopattem on a poly(ethylene terephthalate) substrate was not affected by bending with a radius of similar to 0.5 cm. This procedure enables nondestructive, plasma-free surface modification of chemically inert, low-surface energy soft materials, thus overcoming many current chemical and physical limitations that may impede high throughput, roll-to-roll nanomanufacturing.

• 出版日期2016-3-23