Maskless Photoassisted Micropatterning of Self-Assembled Monolayers through Thiol-Ene Click Chemistry

Reactive self-assembled monolayers are versatile interfaces that enable the design of chemical patterns with minimal topographical alteration. The development of efficient and fast strategies for generating such patterns is of relevance for the evolution of the field in terms of applications and model substrates for fundamental studies. A strategy to functionalize reactive self-assembled monolayers is proposed in the present study. It takes advantage of a photoinitiated thiol-ene reaction to obtain chemical micropatterns via a maskless irradiation. The functionalization procedure occurred in only a minute, and a detailed characterization of those surfaces allowed understanding their physicochemical nature and the reactions involved. This study shows that by varying parameters such as photoinitiator molecule and wavelength of irradiation, the effective modification of self-assembled monolayers can be achieved.