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Multicolour micropatterning of thin films of dry gels

Nature Materials volume 3, pages 729–735 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

Micropatterning of surfaces with several chemicals at different spatial locations usually requires multiple stamping and registration steps. Here, we describe an experimental method based on reaction–diffusion phenomena that allows for simultaneous micropatterning of a substrate with several coloured chemicals. In this method, called wet stamping (WETS), aqueous solutions of two or more inorganic salts are delivered onto a film of dry, ionically doped gelatin from an agarose stamp patterned in bas relief. Once in conformal contact, these salts diffuse into the gelatin, where they react to give deeply coloured precipitates. Separation of colours in the plane of the surface is the consequence of the differences in the diffusion coefficients, the solubility products, and the amounts of different salts delivered from the stamp, and is faithfully reproduced by a theoretical model based on a system of reaction–diffusion partial differential equations. The multicolour micropatterns are useful as non-binary optical elements, and could potentially form the basis of new applications in microseparations and in controlled delivery.

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Figure 1: Multicolour patterning of ionically doped gels.
Figure 2: Two-colour patterns in the iron/copper system.
Figure 3: Dependence of colour separation on the relative concentrations of copper and iron salts in the stamp.
Figure 4: Multicolour and gradient patterns.
Figure 5: Multicolour patterns as wave-selective diffraction gratings.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Northwestern University start-up funds. B.A.G. gratefully acknowledges financial support from the Camille and Henry Dreyfus New Faculty Awards Program. M.F. was supported by the NATO Scientific Fellowship, and C.C. and K.B. by the NSF-IGERT Dynamics of Complex Systems in Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Rd, Evanston, 60208, Illinois, USA

    Rafal Klajn, Marcin Fialkowski, Igor T. Bensemann, Agnieszka Bitner, C. J. Campbell, Kyle Bishop, Stoyan Smoukov & Bartosz A. Grzybowski

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  1. Rafal Klajn
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  2. Marcin Fialkowski
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Correspondence to Bartosz A. Grzybowski.

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Klajn, R., Fialkowski, M., Bensemann, I. et al. Multicolour micropatterning of thin films of dry gels. Nature Mater 3, 729–735 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat1231

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