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Nano-Patterned Surfaces in Soft Matter

A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Macromolecules".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2022) | Viewed by 7959

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Dipartimento di Fisica ‘Enrico Fermi’, Università di Pisa, Largo B. Pontecorvo 3, 56127 Pisa, Italy
Interests: numerical simulations of polymeric systems (excluding biopolymers); vibrational dynamics and relaxation in polymers (excluding biopolymers); elasticity and plasticity in polymers (excluding biopolymers)

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Fabrication of patterned soft matter surfaces with resolution below about 30 nm are problematic by using well-established methods like optical and electron beam lithography.

This Special Issue of the International Journal of Molecular Sciences aims at collecting frontier research articles and review papers where researchers are encouraged to present their experimental, theoretical and numerical advances in the development and application of novel, alternative techniques for the nanofabrication of patterned surfaces of soft materials in an effort to reach a better unifying and predictive picture.

Prospective contributions include, but they are not limited to, direct-write methods like soft lithography, thermal scanning probe lithography, nanoimprint lithography. Bottom-up non-litographic patterning approaches using self-organizing materials with tunable nanoscopic structures like block copolymers or gold nanoparticles are of interest. Novel options for nano-patterned morphologies triggered by surface instabilities driven by polymer architecture, phase separation, mechanical stresses and electric fields will be also considered.

Prof. Dr. Dino Leporini
Guest Editor

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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11 pages, 913 KiB  
Article
Nanoscale Elastoplastic Wrinkling of Ultrathin Molecular Films
by Gianfranco Cordella, Antonio Tripodo, Francesco Puosi, Dario Pisignano and Dino Leporini
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22(21), 11732; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms222111732 - 29 Oct 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1871
Abstract
Ultrathin molecular films deposited on a substrate are ubiquitously used in electronics, photonics, and additive manufacturing methods. The nanoscale surface instability of these systems under uniaxial compression is investigated here by molecular dynamics simulations. We focus on deviations from the homogeneous macroscopic behavior [...] Read more.
Ultrathin molecular films deposited on a substrate are ubiquitously used in electronics, photonics, and additive manufacturing methods. The nanoscale surface instability of these systems under uniaxial compression is investigated here by molecular dynamics simulations. We focus on deviations from the homogeneous macroscopic behavior due to the discrete, disordered nature of the deformed system, which might have critical importance for applications. The instability, which develops in the elastoplastic regime above a finite critical strain, leads to the growth of unidimensional wrinkling up to strains as large as 0.5. We highlight both the dominant wavelength and the amplitude of the wavy structure. The wavelength is found to scale geometrically with the film length, λL, up to a compressive strain of ε0.4 at least, depending on the film length. The onset and growth of the wrinkling under small compression are quite well described by an extended version of the familiar square-root law in the strain ε observed in macroscopic systems. Under large compression (ε0.25), we find that the wrinkling amplitude increases while leaving the cross section nearly constant, offering a novel interpretation of the instability with a large amplitude. The contour length of the film topography is not constant under compression, which is in disagreement with the simple accordion model. These findings might be highly relevant for the design of novel and effective wrinkling and buckling patterns and architectures in flexible platforms for electronics and photonics. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nano-Patterned Surfaces in Soft Matter)
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Review

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13 pages, 2804 KiB  
Review
3D Printing Soft Matters and Applications: A Review
by Shuai Zhan, Amy X. Y. Guo, Shan Cecilia Cao and Na Liu
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23(7), 3790; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23073790 - 30 Mar 2022
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 5506
Abstract
The evolution of nature created delicate structures and organisms. With the advancement of technology, especially the rise of additive manufacturing, bionics has gradually become a popular research field. Recently, researchers have concentrated on soft robotics, which can mimic the complex movements of animals [...] Read more.
The evolution of nature created delicate structures and organisms. With the advancement of technology, especially the rise of additive manufacturing, bionics has gradually become a popular research field. Recently, researchers have concentrated on soft robotics, which can mimic the complex movements of animals by allowing continuous and often responsive local deformations. These properties give soft robots advantages in terms of integration and control with human tissue. The rise of additive manufacturing technologies and soft matters makes the fabrication of soft robots with complex functions such as bending, twisting, intricate 3D motion, grasping, and stretching possible. In this paper, the advantages and disadvantages of the additive manufacturing process, including fused deposition modeling, direct ink writing, inkjet printing, stereolithography, and selective laser sintering, are discussed. The applications of 3D printed soft matter in bionics, soft robotics, flexible electronics, and biomedical engineering are reviewed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nano-Patterned Surfaces in Soft Matter)
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