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Bending properties of two- and three-dimensional-shaped nanoparticles fabricated via substrate conformal imprint lithography

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Abstract

Nanoimprinting enables the implementation of nanoparticle shapes with complex 2D shapes involving different materials. In addition to these objects, this article presents 3D-shaped nanoparticles fabricated by substrate conformal imprint technique. The imprint polymer AMONIL is used either in pure form or in combination with fluorescent dyes for the preparation of particles. The substrate conformal imprint lithography process, including etching and particle release, is conducted for both materials in a similar fashion. In this work, cuboidal particles with a high aspect ratio (1:120) are compared to particles with a T-shaped cross section with respect to their abilities to enhance or reduce their stiffness. Additionally, particles with a high aspect ratio are compared to particles with a lower aspect ratio (1:20). The local stiffness is found to depend strongly on the particle thickness and the geometry of their cross section. Thicker and 3D T-shaped particles present higher local stiffness than thinner and 2D cuboidal-shaped particles. The local bending angle was determined to be 77° for 2D-shaped particles and 83° for 3D-shaped particles, of the same total height of 176 nm. Very thin particles (<50 nm) of high aspect ratio prefer to curl finally forming loops.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the technical assistance by Kerstin Fuchs, Florian Schnabel, Jens Krumpholz, Dietmar Gutermuth and Anita Dück. We also want to thank Moriz Beck-Broichsitter, Thomas Schmehl and Thomas Kissel of the University of Marburg for their inspiring discussions and material support in the case of fluorescent dyes and nanoimprint material. This work was supported by the “Zentrale Forschungsförderung” of the University of Kassel.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Nanotechnologies and Analytics, Department of Technological Electronics, University of Kassel, Heinrich-Plett-Strasse 40, 34132, Kassel, Germany

    Sabrina Reuter, Marek A. Smolarczyk, André Istock, Uh-Myong Ha, Olga Schneider, Natalie Worapattrakul, Safoura Nazemroaya, Hai Hoang, Ludmilla Gomer, Frank Pilger & Hartmut Hillmer

  2. Department of Cell Biology, University of Kassel, Heinrich-Plett-Strasse 40, 34132, Kassel, Germany

    Olga Schneider & Markus Maniak

  3. Energy and Environment Division, Paul Scherrer Institute, 5232, Villigen PSI, Switzerland

    Frank Pilger

  4. Center for Interdisciplinary Nanostructure Science and Technology (CINSaT), Heinrich-Plett-Strasse 40, 34132, Kassel, Germany

    Markus Maniak & Hartmut Hillmer

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  1. Sabrina Reuter
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Correspondence to Sabrina Reuter.

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This study was funded by the “Zentrale Forschungsförderung” of the University of Kassel.

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Reuter, S., Smolarczyk, M.A., Istock, A. et al. Bending properties of two- and three-dimensional-shaped nanoparticles fabricated via substrate conformal imprint lithography. J Nanopart Res 19, 184 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-017-3886-7

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