Nanoimprint lithography-based replication techniques for fabrication of metal and polymer biomimetic nanostructures for biosensor surface functionalization

Abstract

Nanostructuring is a promising and successful approach to tailor functional layers and to improve the characteristics of biosensors such as signal transmission and tighter cell-surface coupling. One of the major objectives in biosensing and tissue engineering is the development of interfaces that mimic the natural environment of biosystems composed of extracellular matrix biomolecules. Nevertheless, effective techniques to reconstruct the random distribution of these biomolecules are still not well established. For this reason, the presented work demonstrates different methods based on nanoimprint lithography to replicate randomly distributed natural nanostructures with complex geometries into different polymers and metals. The fidelity of the replicated nanostructures has been evaluated by atomic force microscopy and the attributes of the fabrication processes have been discussed. Finally, different replication techniques have been combined for the biomimetic nanostructuring of the dielectric passivation layer as well the metal electrode surface to develop novel whole-surface-nanostructured microelectrode arrays.

Toward the Next Generation of Neural Iontronic Interfaces

“…[34,90] Furthermore, increasing the roughness and porosity of the interface enhances cell adhesion and contact area, thus also intensifying the cell-electrode coupling. [91,92] Detailed structuring of the roughness and porosity offers yet another possibility for creating functional electron and ion conductive scaffolds via alternative fabrication strategies, known from phase separation processes. [80] Such scaffolds could either be built by self-assembly of porous unit-cells organizing into a superstructure or by directly 3D printing an intricate porous conductive object.…”