A substrate independent approach for generation of surface gradients

Renee V. Goreham, Agnieszka Mierczynska, Madelene Pierce, Robert D. Short, Shima Taheri, Akash Bachhuka, Alex Cavallaro, Louise E. Smith, Krasimir Vasilev*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

51 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Recently, surface gradients have attracted significant interest for various research and technological applications. In this paper, we report a facile and versatile method for generating surface gradients of immobilized nanoparticles, nanotopography and ligands that is independent from the substrate material. The method consists of first depositing a functional polymer layer on a substrate and subsequent time controlled immersion of this functionalized substrate in solution gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) or poly (styrenesulfonate) (PSS). Chemical characterization by X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and morphological analysis by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) show that the density of nanoparticles and the concentration of PSS across the surface increases in a gradient manner. As expected, time of immersion determines the concentration of surface bound species. We also demonstrate the generation of surface gradients of pure nanotopography. This is achieved by depositing a 5 nm thick plasma polymer layer on top of the number density gradient of nanoparticles to achieve a homogeneous surface chemistry. The surface independent approach for generation of surface gradients presented in this paper may open opportunities for a wider use of surface gradient in research and in various technologies.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)106-110
Number of pages5
JournalThin Solid Films
Volume528
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Jan 2013
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Gradients
  • Nanoparticles
  • Nanotopography
  • Plasma polymerization
  • Surface modification

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