nm-Resolution Functional Pattern Transfer to an Amorphous Elastomeric Material

Here, we show that striped monolayers of diyne amphiphiles, assembled on graphite and photopolymerized, can be covalently transferred to polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), an elastomer common in applications including microfluidics, soft robotics, wearable electronics, and cell culture. This process creates precision polymer films <1 nm thick, with 1-nm-wide functional patterns, that control interfacial wetting, reactivity, and adsorption of flexible, ultranarrow inorganic nanowires. The polydiacetylenes exhibit polarized fluorescence emission, revealing polymer location, orientation, and environment, and resist engulfment, a common problem in PDMS functionalization. These findings illustrate a route for controlling surface chemistry well below the length scale of heterogeneity in an amorphous material.