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

该提案旨在开发一种新的纳米纤维路线，该路线利用弹性不稳定性效应，该效应经常从植物，动物条纹和指纹的叶序生长中看到，以创建具有非常高水平的结构完美性和可变晶格对称性的纳米级复杂图案库。通过比较理论预测和实验观察，将开发出强大的通用规则，这将允许对复杂结构的演变进行编程，同时保持所提出的纳米纤维技术的完整性和自上而下的性质。PI计划：1）制备具有用于图案转换的任意特征尺寸和几何形状的微观孔阵列的聚（二甲基硅氧烷）膜库，2）研究控制溶胀网络中的不稳定性的因素，并探索特征尺寸减小至亚10 nm范围，3）并利用压印纳米颗粒组装体的独特形貌来制造纳米结构。 这项拟议的研究是变革性的，因为它试图将软材料的感知弱点，即它们的机械不稳定性，转化为优势，允许在微米和纳米级制造中设计新的工具和程序，创造具有各向异性的动态可调结构磁性，光子，声子和等离子体特性，有利于一系列科学和技术。 拟议的活动范围从材料工程到软物质物理学，并为柔性物质的固体力学引入了一种新的范式。这个交叉点创造了一个重要的机会来招募和培训学生，并激发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.