Polymer brush nanopatterns with controllable features for protein pattern applications

Abstract

A novel technique is reported for preparing wafer-scale polymer brush nanopatterns by combining colloidal lithography with surface-initiated atom-transfer radical polymerization. The nanoarchitecture parameters of the polymer patterns can be fully controlled by tuning the experimental conditions and polymer nanopatterns with a lateral resolution down to 100 nm are successfully achieved. In addition, by coupling this technique with photolithography, hierarchical polymer brush nanopatterns have been fabricated. Significantly, the influences of nanodot morphologies on the feature sizes of the polymer nanopatterns are explained in detail. More importantly, complex protein patterns are prepared by conjugating proteins on the polymer brush nanopatterns. The proteins are covalently immobilized on the polymers and exhibit 3D distribution without denaturation. Cells can adhere quickly to the fibronectin patterns and elongate along the stripes of the protein patterns.