Template
wetting methods have been widely applied in the preparation
of one-dimensional (1D) polymer nanomaterials. The pattern control
using the template wetting methods, however, still remains a great
challenge, mainly due to the nonselectivity of the polymers toward
the environmental triggering. In this work, we present a facile light-induced
nanowetting (LIN) method to fabricate patterned nanoarrays using anodic
aluminum oxide (AAO) templates. Photoresponsive azobenzene-containing
polymers (azopolymers) that exhibit light-induced reversible solid-to-liquid
transitions are used. Upon exposure to ultraviolet lights, the azopolymer
chains can wet the nanopores of the AAO templates in a liquid state
via capillary force. The azopolymer chains are then solidified by
illuminating them with visible lights, resulting in the formation
of azopolymer nanoarrays. Notably, using designed photomasks, the
patterns of the nanoarrays can be ingeniously controlled with the
characteristic of erasable and rewritable nanostructures.
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