Nanoimprinted Polyethyleneimine: A Multimodal Template for Nanoparticle Assembly and Immobilization

Abstract

Polyethyleneimine (PEI) is used as a scaffold for integrated top‐down/bottom‐up fabrication. In this synergistic strategy, patterned PEI surfaces are created using thermal nanoimprint lithography (NIL) using a sacrificial polystyrene (PS) overlayer. These imprinted surfaces act as versatile templates for assembling nanoparticles and dyes, with the amine groups of the PEI enabling electrostatic assembly, carbodiimide coupling, and dithiocarbamate attachment to the nanoimprinted features. The efficient assembly of particles and dyes is confirmed through fluorescence and atomic force microscopy. In these studies the PS overlayer serves two roles. First, the PS layer protects the PEI surface during the plasma‐etch removal of the residual layer of the NIL process. Second, the PS overlayer serves as a mask, enabling sequential functionalization of the sides and the tops of the PEI features.

Cell Alignment using Patterned Biocompatible Gold Nanoparticle Templates

“…[xxi] For this purpose, a silicon surface was spin-coated with PEI polymer and was then thermally cross-linked. After the formation of the PEI film, the surfaces were immersed in a solution of carbon disulfide (CS 2 ) and NP1-3 to generate the coated surfaces.…”

Direct Fabrication of Functional and Biofunctional Nanostructures Through Reactive Imprinting

“…Nanoimprint lithography (NIL) [1] is an important tool for generating two- and three- dimensional structures beyond the resolution of optical lithography. NIL is a scalable technique, and can be adapted to high throughput roll-to-roll processing.…”

Photolithography of dithiocarbamate-anchored monolayers and polymers on gold

“…4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12, 13,14,15,16,17,18,19 Recently, in situ DTC formation has been extended toward the chemisorptive anchoring of polymeric amines such as polyethyeleneimine (PEI). 20 …”