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Directed Aerosol Writing of Ordered Silica Nanostructures on Arbitrary Surfaces with Self‐Assembling Inks
Author(s) -
Pang Jiebin,
Stuecker John N.,
Jiang Yingbing,
Bhakta Ajay J.,
Branson Eric D.,
Li Peng,
Cesarano Joseph,
Sutton David,
Calvert Paul,
Brinker C. Jeffrey
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
small
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.785
H-Index - 236
eISSN - 1613-6829
pISSN - 1613-6810
DOI - 10.1002/smll.200700206
Subject(s) - materials science , aerosol , coalescence (physics) , nanotechnology , microscale chemistry , nanostructure , chemical engineering , evaporation , deposition (geology) , self assembly , pulmonary surfactant , substrate (aquarium) , fabrication , organic chemistry , chemistry , oceanography , pathology , engineering , biology , paleontology , thermodynamics , medicine , physics , mathematics education , sediment , astrobiology , geology , alternative medicine , mathematics
This paper reports the fabrication of micro‐ and macropatterns of ordered mesostructured silica on arbitrary flat and curved surfaces using a facile robot‐directed aerosol printing process. Starting with a homogenous solution of soluble silica, ethanol, water, and surfactant as a self‐assembling ink, a columnated stream of aerosol droplets is directed to the substrate surface. For deposition at room temperature droplet coalescence on the substrates and attendant solvent evaporation result in continuous, highly ordered mesophases. The pattern profiles are varied by changing any number of printing parameters such as material deposition rate, printing speed, and aerosol‐head temperature. Increasing the aerosol temperature results in a decrease of the mesostructure ordering, since faster solvent evaporation and enhanced silica condensation at higher temperatures kinetically impede the molecular assembly process. This facile technique provides powerful control of the printed materials at both the nanoscale and microscale through chemical self‐assembly and robotic engineering, respectively.