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Micro- and nanopatterning by lithographically controlled wetting

Nature Protocols volume 7, pages 1668–1676 (2012)Cite this article

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Abstract

This protocol describes how to perform lithographically controlled wetting (LCW). LCW enables large-area patterning of microstructures and nanostructures of soluble materials, either organic or inorganic, including biological compounds in buffer solutions or compounds for cell guidance. LCW exploits the capillary forces of menisci established under the protrusions of a stamp placed in contact with a liquid film. In the space confined by each meniscus, the self-organization of the deposited solute yields highly ordered structures that replicate the motif of the stamp protrusions. The method does not require any particular infrastructure and can be accomplished by using simple tools such as compact discs or microscopy grids. Compared with other printing methods, LCW is universal for soluble materials, as it does not require chemical binding or other specific interactions between the solute and the surface. A process cycle takes from 2 to 36 h to be completed, depending on the choice of materials.

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Figure 1: Scheme of lithographically controlled wetting.
Figure 2: Principal steps of lithographically controlled wetting.
Figure 3: Printing separated or continuous microstructures in wetting regime.
Figure 4: Printing separated microstructures in the dewetting regime.
Figure 5: Printing continuous submicrometric structures of laminin.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Y. Geerts for providing us the discotic liquid crystals used for the ANTICIPATED RESULTS. This work was supported by the European Science Foundation (ESF) project ESF-EURYI (European Young Investigators) DYMOT (Dynamics of Molecules on Organic Transistors), ESF-EuroBioSAS (Bio-inspired Engineering of Sensors, Actuators and Systems) ICS (Intelligent Cell Surfaces), the EU Collaborative Project HYSENS (Hybrid Molecule-Nanocrystal Assemblies for Photonic and Electronic Sensing Applications) FP7-NMP3-SL-2011-263091 and national project PRIN (Progetti di Ricerca di Interesse Nazionale) prot. 2009N9N8RX_003.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto per lo Studio dei Materiali Nanostrutturati, Bologna, Italy

    Massimiliano Cavallini, Denis Gentili, Francesco Valle & Fabio Biscarini

  2. Scriba Nanotecnologie, Bologna, Italy

    Massimiliano Cavallini, Pierpaolo Greco & Fabio Biscarini

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  1. Massimiliano Cavallini
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  2. Denis Gentili
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  3. Pierpaolo Greco
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  4. Francesco Valle
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  5. Fabio Biscarini
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Contributions

D.G. and P.G. are responsible for all the experiments described in this article and for the preparation of the paper; F.V. is partially responsible for experimental planning and preparation of the paper; and M.C. and F.B. are responsible for designing and providing guidance for the experiments and for editing and proofreading the paper.

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Correspondence to Massimiliano Cavallini.

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Cavallini, M., Gentili, D., Greco, P. et al. Micro- and nanopatterning by lithographically controlled wetting. Nat Protoc 7, 1668–1676 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nprot.2012.094

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