Polymer nanofibers by soft lithography

Abstract

The fabrication of polymeric fibers by soft lithography is demonstrated. Polyurethane, patterned by capillarity-induced molding with high-resolution elastomeric templates, forms mm-long fibers with a diameter below 0.3μm. The Young’s modulus of the fabricated structures, evaluated by force-distance scanning probe spectroscopy, has a value of 0.8MPa. This is an excellent example of nanostructures feasible by the combination of soft nanopatterning and high-resolution fabrication approaches for master templates, and particularly electron-beam lithography.