Photoactuated Pens for Molecular Printing

Abstract

The photoactuation of pen arrays made of polydimethylsiloxane carbon nanotube composites is explored, and the first demonstration of photoactuated pens for molecular printing is reported. Photoactuation of these composites is characterized using atomic force microscopy and found to produce microscale motion in response to modest illumination, with an actuation efficiency as high as 200 nm mW on the sub-1 s time scale. Arrays of composite pens are synthesized and it is found that local illumination is capable of moving selected pens by more than 3 µm out of the plane, bringing them into contact to perform controllable and high quality printing while completely shutting off the nonilluminated counterparts. In light of the scalability limitations of nanolithography, this work presents an important step and paves the way for arbitrary control of individual pens in massive arrays. As an example of a scalable soft actuator, this approach can also aid progress in other fields such as soft robotics and microfluidics.

Development of Dip‐Pen Nanolithography (DPN) and Its Derivatives

“…This cantilever‐free SPL architecture can pattern dot‐matrix style, whit features sizes tuned across the nano‐ and macroscales. Huang et al developed a photoactuated PPL strategy to individually actuate each pen . The critical development is the fabrication of photoactuated pen arrays made of PDMS‐CNT composites, which can locally expand under light irradiation .…”

Recent Advances in Photoactuators and Their Applications in Intelligent Bionic Movements

“…Microactuators fabricated by direct laser writing, [119,120] photolithography, [121,122] 3D printing, [123] etc., are emerging as important fields in biomedical micro-electromechanical systems and are in great demand in high-precision micrometer dimensional design as well. [124,125] Not much research has been carried out on photoresponsive microactuators owing to their complicated design and methods of measurement.…”

“…[126] At present, microactuators are fabricated from microgel, micro-nano www.advopticalmat.de dimensional VO 2 , SMPs, and other polymers, and they usually have a single-layered or double-layered structure. [87,88,127,128,121] Wang et al designed a PDMS-CNT based pen microactuator with arrays by nanolithography techniques, and it can generate about 1% strain out of plane. [121] Xiong's group dispersed a black photothermal agent Fe 3 O 4 NPs into the PNIPAm thermoresponsive hydrogel to form a 3D microgel, nearly 26 µm in size, by using laser beam ( Figure 6G).…”

“…[87,88,127,128,121] Wang et al designed a PDMS-CNT based pen microactuator with arrays by nanolithography techniques, and it can generate about 1% strain out of plane. [121] Xiong's group dispersed a black photothermal agent Fe 3 O 4 NPs into the PNIPAm thermoresponsive hydrogel to form a 3D microgel, nearly 26 µm in size, by using laser beam ( Figure 6G). [128] The hydrogel expanded when it was immersed in water and then contracted to bend in 0.033 s under NIR light, exhibiting fast and reversible actuation ( Figure 6H).…”

Effect of Structure of Polymers Grafted from Graphene Oxide on the Compatibility of Particles with a Silicone-Based Environment and the Stimuli-Responsive Capabilities of Their Composites

“…Photomechanical actuators belong to the class of stimuli-responsive materials as they can provide mechanical motion as a response to external light stimuli. Such materials find utilization in engineering applications such as robots [4], pens for molecular printing [5], smart curtains, light-driven motors [6], or treating of amphiphilic nano-objects by light-induced charge separation [7]. Photo-actuators are based on hybrid particles with certain specific characteristic features.…”