from the conferences organized by TANGER Ltd.
Self-assembly techniques attracted a lot of interest in recent years due to its ability to form number of periodic surface patterns over large areas. This process is fast, very efficient and cost effective. By modifying surface pattern we can optimize polymer for specific use, from optical devices through particle sorting to flexible electronics. Today`s main challenge is find suitable materials capable of self-assembly and study how we can influence surface pattern to achieve best results.In our work, we used formation of ripple-like patterns by wrinkling instability of poly-L-lactic foil with gold nanostructure initiated by annealing. Resulting structures showed significant degree of morphological orientation observed by atomic force, which in optimized cases resulted in electrical anisotropy. This reorganization of conductive gold on insulating polymer into metal nanowires can be also observed by zeta-potential measurements. Due to poly-L-lactic acid being biopolymer, these samples were also tested for cytocompatibility. NIH 3T3 fibroblasts were used and selected samples showed significantly higher adhesion and proliferation in comparison with PS mock.
Keywords: Atomic force microscopy, Metal nanolayer, Self-assembly, Surface modification, Zeta potential© This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.