Paper TF1+SE-TuM5
Oblique Angle Polymerization

Tuesday, November 10, 2009, 9:20 am, Room B3

The growth of spatially organized structures is of considerable fundamental interest, since it may provide us with important clues to the way in which organized structures form in Nature. A closer look at complex structures in insect wings and lizard toes reveal organized structured features at the microscopic scale. The organized structures in Nature are formed through evolutionary processes, and these complex molecules and features are built using molecular protein machinery. Synthetic polymers, that mimic biological materials in their designs, form organized structures too. We have demonstrated that nanostructured polymer thin films can be fabricated by an oblique angle polymerization method. [1-2] These structures are composed of approximately 40,000,000 aligned columns (approximately 100-150 nm in diameter) per square millimeter similar to the gecko footpad or insect wing. These structures have high aspect ratio and the production technique does not require any template, lithography method or a surfactant for deposition. This approach allows us to tune the chemical properties of nanostructured surfaces and film morphology to control the physicochemical properties of the resulting films, such as hydrophobicity, porosity, electrochemistry, chemical reactivity, surface energy and crystallinity. We have recently functionalized nanostructured polymer films for controlled release and delivery of organics and synthetic molecules. Structured polymer brushes are envisioned to be useful in for specific controlled drug release, metallization (SERS and catalyst applications), tissue targeting as well as antifouling applications. [3-5]

1. Cetinkaya, M., Malvakdar, N., Demirel, M.C., “Power-Law Scaling of Structured Poly(p-xylylene) Films Deposited by Oblique Angle”, JOURNAL OF POLYMER SCIENCE PART B: POLYMER PHYSICS, Vol. 46, pg 640-648, 2008.
2. Cetinkaya, M., Boduroglu, S., Demirel, M.C. “Growth of Nanostructured Thin Films of Poly(p-xylylene) Derivatives by Vapor Deposition”, POLYMER, Vol.48, pg. 4130-4134, 2007
3. Demirel, M.C., Cetinkaya, M., Singh, A., Dressick W.J., “ A Non-Covalent Method for Depositing Nanoporous Metals via Spatially Organized Poly(P-xylylene) Films”, ADVANCED MATERIALS, Vol.19, pg.4495-4499, 2007
4. Boduroglu S., Cetinkaya, M., Dressick, W., Singh, A., Demirel, M.C., ”Controlling Wettability and Adhesion of Nanostructured Poly-(p-xylylene) Films", LANGMUIR, Vol.23,pg. 11391-11395, 2007
5. Kao, P., Malvadkar N., Wang, H. Allara, D., Demirel, M.C., “Surface Enhanced Raman Detection of Bacteria on Metalized Nanostructured Poly(p-xylylene) Films ” Vol. 20, pg. 3562-3565, ADVANCED MATERIALS, 2008.