Fabrication of controlled thermosensitive polymer nanopatterns with one-pot polymerization through chemical lithography

A one-step process to fabricate topographic polystyrene structures was investigated. 3 ke V electrons were used to expose the 4'-nitro-1,1'-biphenyl-4- thiol (NBT) self-assembled monolayer (SAM) to different dose of radiation. The NBT molecules were converted into crosslinked 4'-amino-1,1'-biphenyl-4-thiol (cABT) films. The atomic force microscopy (AFM) images of the resulting PNIPAM brushes exhibited an electron-dose-dependent height of the obtained patterns. Chemical lithography was required for three steps preparation of topographic polymer-brush pattern on a gold surface. A combination of chemical lithography with surface-initiated atom-transfer radical polymerization was used to fabricate complex gradient structure. was observed that the dependence of the PNIPAM brush height on the density of the initiator allows the preparation of spatially defined polymer patterns with varying heights.