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Article

Selective Depositions on Polyelectrolyte Multilayers: Self-Assembled Monolayers of m-dPEG Acid as Molecular Template

Srivatsan Kidambi, Christina Chan, and Ilsoon Lee*

Contribution from the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824

J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2004, 126 (14), pp 4697–4703

DOI: 10.1021/ja039359o

Publication Date (Web): March 17, 2004

In papers with more than one author, the asterisk indicates the name of the author to whom inquiries about the paper should be addressed.

leeil@egr.msu.edu

Abstract

This paper describes the fabrication of self-assembled monolayer (SAM) patterns of m-d-poly(ethylene glycol) (m-dPEG) acid molecules onto polyelectrolyte multilayers (PEMs). The patterned SAMs on PEMs were created by ionic interactions using microcontact printing (μCP) technique. The created m-dPEG acid monolayer patterns on PEMs act as resistive templates, and thus further depositions of consecutive poly(anion)/poly(cation) pairs of charged particles result in the formation of three-dimensional (3-D) patterned PEM films or selective particle depositions atop the original multilayer thin films. In this study, we illustrate nonlithographic methods of patterning and controlling 3-D PEM architectures and selective particle depositions. We investigated the effect of variablesthe choice of solvent, concentration, pH, substrate pretreatment, and stamp contact timeson microcontact printing of m-dPEG acid molecules onto PEM films to determine the optimal conditions for these parameters to achieve efficient transfer of m-dPEG acid patterns onto PEMs. Among the variables, the pH of the m-dPEG acid ink solution played the most important role in the transfer efficiency of the patterns onto the multilayer films. The patterned films were characterized by optical microscopy and atomic force microscopy (AFM).