Nanosphere Lithography of Chitin and Chitosan with Colloidal and Self-Masking Patterning

Abstract

Complex surface topographies control, define, and determine the properties of insect cuticles. In some cases, these nanostructured materials are a direct extension of chitin-based cuticles. The cellular mechanisms that generate these elaborate chitin-based structures are unknown, and involve complicated cellular and biochemical “bottom-up” processes. We demonstrated that a synthetic “top-down” fabrication technique—nanosphere lithography—generates surfaces of chitin or chitosan that mimic the arrangement of nanostructures found on the surface of certain insect wings and eyes. Chitin and chitosan are flexible and biocompatible abundant natural polymers, and are a sustainable resource. The fabrication of nanostructured chitin and chitosan materials enables the development of new biopolymer materials. Finally, we demonstrated that another property of chitin and chitosan—the ability to self-assemble nanosilver particles—enables a novel and powerful new tool for the nanosphere lithographic method: the ability to generate a self-masking thin film. The scalability of the nanosphere lithographic technique is a major limitation; however, the silver nanoparticle self-masking enables a one-step thin-film cast or masking process, which can be used to generate nanostructured surfaces over a wide range of surfaces and areas.

Construction of a Chitosan/ZnO-Based Light-Resistant Coating System to Protect Dyed Wood from Ultraviolet Irradiation via Layer-by-Layer Self-Assembly

“…In this work, chitosan and ZnO were self-assembled into an environmentally friendly bio-based coating that exhibited excellent UV resistance on dyed wood. The self-assembly of colloidal particles allowed precise control of the optical properties and wettability of wood coating [ 52 , 53 , 54 ], different crystalline or non-crystalline arrangements [ 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 ], and modulation of the morphology of colloidal particles and assemblies [ 54 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 ]. However, colloidal particles are mostly synthetic polymers, limiting their application in the biological and medical fields.…”

Polymer Interface Molecular Engineering for E-Textiles

“…At the same time, the metal films fabricated from PIME catalytic ELD are usually high performance, with excellent conductive properties. In addition, as well as traditional lithographic approaches [66,67,68,69,70,71,72,73,74,75] (including photolithography, scanning probe lithography and contact printing), some advanced printing techniques have been applied in the ELD field. These effective printing methods, such as dip-pen nanolithography, inkjet printing and screen printing, have the potential to improve the throughput of patterned ELD flexible electronics.…”

Advances in lithographic techniques for precision nanostructure fabrication in biomedical applications

“…Additionally, NSL faces challenges in scalability since generating large areas of the nanosphere mask proves difficult, impeding its application in the mass production of medical devices. Research aimed at developing improved photomasks and exploring self-masking techniques may provide potential solutions to overcome this issue [ 239 ].…”