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Complete shape retention in the transformation of silica to polymer micro-objects

Nature Materials volume 5, pages 545–551 (2006)Cite this article

Abstract

Controlled morphogenesis and shape replication are challenges for several rapidly developing fields of materials science1,2,3,4. Indeed, although complex forms have been generated by the condensation of inorganic matter in organized media5,6,7,8,9,10,11, the shaping of plastic matter on the micrometre scale is still limited to simple forms that are typically obtained as inverse replicas of channel-like cavities12,13,14 and colloidal crystals15,16. Here we report the fabrication of individual plastic micro-objects that follow an elaborate design and are faithful copies of nanoporous inorganic morphotypes. The direct replica method produces an unprecedented library of curved geometrical solids made of plastics, such as cones, bicones, hollow cylinders, rings, test tubes, clubs and vases. The shape retention of the original structures on the microscale and the creation of a new nanostructure produced objects with homogeneous nanopores of 7 nm and cylindrical microcavities as large as 1 μm. This strategy of shape transcription from one material to another opens new perspectives in microfabrication, separation, anchorage and storage of chemical and biological species. Until now it has not been possible to realize such transformations.

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Figure 1: SEM of micro-objects obtained by the replica process.
Figure 2: SEM images of a variety of micrometre-sized objects made of PS and shaped to curved geometries.
Figure 3: Thermogravimetric analysis, adsorption properties and DSC.
Figure 4: TEM images and Fourier diffractograms.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the CARIPLO Foundation and the European Network of Excellence (Nanofun-Poly) for financial support. Our thanks are due to S. Ndoni for small angle X-ray scattering measurements, R. Cristina-Reggiani for SEM images, G. Pagani for providing the dye molecule, and M. Beretta and S. Nicali for technical support. M. P. Longhese and M. Clerici are acknowledged for observations of DNA diffusion into micro-objects and M. D. Ward for helpful suggestions. O.T. and Y.S. thank the Swedish Science Council (VR) and the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) for financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Materials Science Department, University of Milano-Bicocca, INSTM, via R. Cozzi 53, 20125, Milano, Italy

    Piero Sozzani, Silvia Bracco, Angiolina Comotti, Roberto Simonutti & Patrizia Valsesia

  2. Structural Chemistry, Arrhenius Laboratory, Stockholm University, S-10691, Stockholm, Sweden

    Yasuhiro Sakamoto & Osamu Terasaki

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  1. Piero Sozzani
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Correspondence to Piero Sozzani.

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Sozzani, P., Bracco, S., Comotti, A. et al. Complete shape retention in the transformation of silica to polymer micro-objects. Nature Mater 5, 545–551 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat1659

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