From a Single Micropatterned Elastic Membrane to a Library of Complex Patterns of Nanostructures: an Efficient Nanomanufacturing Route via Harnessing of Elastic Instability

这项提议寻求开发一种新的纳米制造路线，利用弹性不稳定效应，这种效应通常从植物、动物条纹和指纹的叶状生长中看到，以创建具有非常高水平的结构完善和可变晶格对称性的纳米尺度的复杂图案库。通过比较理论预测和实验观察，将开发出稳健和通用的规则，这将允许编程复杂结构的演变，同时保持拟议的纳米制造技术的完整性和自上而下的性质。PI计划：1)制备具有任意特征尺寸和几何形状的微孔阵列的聚二甲基硅氧烷膜库，用于图案转换；2)研究控制膨胀网络中的不稳定性的因素，探索将特征尺寸减小到10 nm以下；3)利用印迹纳米颗粒组件的独特形貌来制造纳米结构。这项拟议的研究具有变革性，因为它试图将软材料的一个可察觉的弱点，即其机械不稳定性，转化为优势，允许在微米和纳米尺度的制造中设计新的工具和程序，创建具有各向异性磁、光子、声子和等离子特性的动态可调结构，使一系列科学和技术受益。拟议的活动范围从材料工程到软物质物理，并为柔性物质的固体力学引入了一个新的范例。这一交汇点为招收和培训学生创造了一个重要的机会，并激发了公众对纳米技术的兴趣。

This proposal seeks to develop a novel nanofabrication route that exploits an elastic instability effect, which is often seen from the phyllotactic growth of plants, animal stripes, and fingerprints, to create a library of complex patterns at the nanoscale with a very high level of structural perfection and variable lattice symmetry. By comparing the theoretical prediction and experimental observations, robust and generic rules will be developed, which will allow programming the evolution of complex structures while maintaining the integrity and top-down nature of the proposed nanofabrication technique. The PIs plan to: 1) prepare a library of poly(dimethylsiloxane) membranes with microscopic hole arrays of arbitrary feature size and geometry for pattern transformation, 2) investigate the factors that control the instability in a swollen network and explore feature size reduction to the sub-10 nm regime, 3) and capitalize on the unique topography of the imprinted nanoparticle assemblies for fabrication of nanostructures. This proposed research is transformative in that it seeks to turn a perceived weakness of soft materials, i.e. their mechanical instability, into a strength, allowing the design of new tools and procedures in micro- and nano-scale manufacturing, creating dynamically tunable structures with anisotropic magnetic, photonic, phononic, and plasmonic properties of benefit to a range of science and technologies. The proposed activity ranges in scope from materials engineering to soft matter physics and introduces a new paradigm for the solid mechanics of flexible matter. This intersection creates a significant opportunity to recruit and train students, and excite the general public about nanotechnology.