Multiscale Hierarchical Surface Patterns by Coupling Optical Patterning and Thermal Shrinkage.

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Surface Engineering
• Nanotechnology

Background:

• Fabricating hierarchical surfaces with controlled multiscale roughness presents significant challenges.
• Existing methods like lithography, black silicon processing, and wet etching have limitations in creating complex, tunable patterns over large areas.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a simple and efficient method for fabricating hierarchical surfaces with tunable wetting properties.
• To demonstrate the creation of multiscale patterns for potential applications in mechanobiology and tissue engineering.

Main Methods:

• Combining buckling instability with azopolymer-based surface relief grating inscription.
• Utilizing azopolymers for submicron patterning and thermal shrinkage for microscale patterning.
• Characterizing the wetting behavior of the fabricated hierarchical surfaces.

Main Results:

• Successfully fabricated hierarchical surfaces with patterns across submicron and microscale length scales.
• Demonstrated tunable contact angles and control over isotropic and anisotropic wetting.
• Achieved efficient fabrication over relatively large areas, overcoming limitations of existing techniques.

Conclusions:

• The presented method offers an effective approach for creating complex hierarchical surfaces.
• The tunable wetting properties make these surfaces promising for applications in mechanobiology and tissue engineering.
• This technique overcomes limitations associated with fabricating multiscale roughness and random patterns.