Self-Healing Label Materials Based on Photo-Cross-Linkable Polymeric Films with Dynamic Surface Structures

Abstract

Spatially controlling the evolution of surface structures may provide an effective strategy for patterning surface roughness and facilitating the construction of various functional surfaces. In this study, we report a photo-cross-linkable polymeric film with dynamic surface micro/nanostructures. The surface structures of the un-cross-linked regions can be eliminated under saturated humidity, which can be utilized to create patterned roughness on the film. One potential application of this patternable platform is as a "smart" label material for graphical symbols. Various graphical symbols can be programmed onto this film by partially erasing its surface roughness, enabling visibility due to the difference in light scattering between different areas of the film. When a thus-prepared label was blurred by mechanical scratches, it could be healed under saturated humidity, and its original readability could be fully restored. Furthermore, the patterned rough surface created using our approach can also be very useful in many other research fields, such as surface wettability and cell behavior manipulation.

Controlling Structural Transformation of Polyelectrolyte Films for Spatially Encapsulating Functional Species

“…The pH of the mixed solution was adjusted to 7.0 by adding 1.0 m NaOH. The mixture was then stirred at 4 °C for 24 h. After that, the mixed solution was dialyzed against deionized water for two weeks, and the final solution was freeze-dried in a vacuum (10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20) at −46 °C for one week to obtain a white solid. The chemical structure of the end product was analyzed using 1 H-NMR (DMX-500, Bruker, Switzerland).…”

“…In the past decades, the dynamic features of polyelectrolyte films have aroused considerable interests in a variety of fields, including separation, electronics, energy, and optics . We recently demonstrated that the structural transformation of microporous polyelectrolyte films can be enabled at saturated humidity, under the condition that the interchain interactions can be highly weakened and the mobility of polyelectrolyte chains can be activated . In this study, we describe a facile and effective strategy to spatially control the encapsulation of various species by locally regulating the structural transformation of polyelectrolyte films.…”

“…After loading guest species, the porous structures can be eliminated at 100% relative humidity (RH) to integrate the guest species into the film, leading to a patterned distribution of these species across the film. Our proposed strategy is operated with the aid of photolithography and one prominent advantage of this is that the location of encapsulation can be controlled precisely. With this method, various guest species, ranging from fluorescent dyes to nanoparticles, can be locally encapsulated into the film, forming distinct patterns of arbitrary shapes and sizes and thus paving the way for further applications.…”

“…One approach is inkjet printing, [6][7][8] which manipulates the deposition of microdroplets to deliver desired quantities of target species into polyelectrolyte films, thus yielding patterned films with well-defined spatial configurations. This technique can be strategy is operated with the aid of photolithography [17,19,20] and one prominent advantage of this is that the location of encapsulation can be controlled precisely. With this method, various guest species, ranging from fluorescent dyes to nanoparticles, can be locally encapsulated into the film, forming distinct patterns of arbitrary shapes and sizes and thus paving the way for further applications.…”

“…[4,[13][14][15] We recently demonstrated that the structural transformation of microporous polyelectrolyte films can be enabled at saturated humidity, under the condition that the interchain interactions can be highly weakened and the mobility of polyelectrolyte chains can be activated. [16][17][18] In this study, we describe a facile and effective strategy to spatially control the encapsulation of various species by locally regulating the structural transformation of polyelectrolyte films. On the basis of our research, cationic poly(ethylenimine) (PEI) was layer-by-layer (LbL) assembled with a poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) derivative (PAA-N 3 ) to yield a photoreactive polymeric film.…”