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Bubble-Pen Lithography for Directed Hierarchical Assembly of Anisotropic Nanomaterials

Subject Area Physical Chemistry of Solids and Surfaces, Material Characterisation
Term from 2020 to 2025
Project identifier Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 447787198
 
Final Report Year 2025

Final Report Abstract

The main objective of the research project was to determine how anisotropic inorganic particles in dispersion interact at the liquid/vapor interface of bubbles formed during Bubble-Pen Lithography (BPL). Anisotropic particles (e.g. rods, plates, discs, laths) present an opportunity to understand how surface chemistry can influence the interactions of such particles different facets with each other and the bubble interface, as well as their propensity for self-assembly at the interface. The understanding of how chemical modifications of these surfaces influences assembly could allow a means to control the particle orientation or hierarchical nature of the assemblies formed. Furthermore, this approach can provide a direct-write platform to assemble functional nanomaterials into devices towards functional materials. This project not only led to the achievement of targeted outcomes, but also led to several independent research directions inspired by the findings made along the way. Bubble printing of several different types of anisotropic nanoparticles was achieved, allowing the patterning of surfaces with properties such as conductivity, photoluminescence, and optical birefringence. The direct outcomes of this work were shown to be effective for applications such as electronics, mechanical strain sensors, fluorescent sensors, and surface-enhanced Raman scattering substrates. Furthermore, the efforts in cross-linking led to the discovery of a thermophoresis-driven nanoparticle assembly process which could be used for patterning of surfaces with gold nanoparticles. Finally, the functionalization of nanomaterials used in this project led to the synthesis of numerous unique organic-inorganic hybrids with unique photophysical properties and colloidal behavior, leading to an improved understanding of intermolecular interactions at nanomaterial interfaces. Overall, these results represent fundamental findings for the future success of the proposed bubble printing method. The findings resulting from this study not only laid the foundation for bubble printing of nanomaterials and devices on solid substrates, but also led to new insights on thermophoresis-related transport phenomena, leading to the development of a novel micropatterning approach. Furthermore, an understanding of intermolecular energy transfer at anisotropic nanomaterial interfaces was gained during the course of the project. Due to the critical role of directed approaches in nanoparticle-related technology, we believe our findings could be of interest to a broad array of researchers.

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