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  • Perspective
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Intelligent block copolymer self-assembly towards IoT hardware components

Nature Reviews Electrical Engineering volume 1, pages 124–138 (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

The Internet of Things (IoT) has emerged as the principal element for hyperconnectivity in the era of the fourth industrial revolution, in which low-power and self-sustainable operation, miniaturization and communication are the main requirements for advanced systems. Highly functional nanoscale structures, together with fabrication processes on the sub-100-nm scale, can be useful for the development of versatile miniaturized IoT devices. In this Perspective, we introduce block copolymer (BCP) self-assembly as a tool for the fabrication of high-performance IoT hardware components. Tailored material design of BCPs in terms of chemical diversity and molecular architectures enables the dense integration of physical and chemical functionalities below the tens of nanometres scale. BCPs can be used as nanoscale templates for surface nanopatterning, as soft 3D nanoporous structures or as nanopatterned substrates for spatially selective chemical functionalities. We summarize advances in technological areas relevant to the IoT, such as sensing, energy harvesting, user interfaces and information security systems. We also consider the limitations and open challenges that must be addressed, and we outline future research directions towards the use of BCP assembly for the next generation of IoT systems.

Key points

  • Block copolymer (BCP) self-assembly, traditionally focused on semiconductor nanolithography, is evolving into a promising material platform for Internet of Things (IoT) hardware components.

  • BCP nanopatterning aids in creating highly sensitive IoT sensors with enlarged surface areas and tunable electronic and/or optical properties.

  • Well-defined nanopatterns produced by BCP self-assembly can promote the energy conversion efficiencies of photovoltaics, triboelectric and/or thermoelectric nanogenerators, and osmotic energy converters.

  • Dynamic self-assembly of BCPs can be used for smart IoT user interfaces by means of environment-interactive displays and interactive tactile interfaces.

  • Non-deterministic BCP self-assembly offers physically unclonable functions for high information security and versatile identification methodologies.

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Fig. 1: Smart home as an example of a ubiquitous Internet of Things system.
Fig. 2: Enhancement of sensing performance with block copolymer (BCP)-nanopatterned devices.
Fig. 3: Energy harvesting with block copolymer (BCP) nanopatterned devices for self-sustainable Internet of Things systems.
Fig. 4: Environment-interactive user interface and optical components fabricated with block copolymer (BCP) self-assembly.
Fig. 5: Physical unclonable functions (PUF) for an information security system using non-deterministic nanopattern formation by block copolymer (BCP) self-assembly.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge support from the National Creative Research Initiative (CRI) Center for Multi-Dimensional Directed Nanoscale Assembly (2015R1A3A2033061) through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science.

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  1. These authors contributed equally: Geon Gug Yang, Hee Jae Choi.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Creative Research Initiative Center for Multi-Dimensional Directed Nanoscale Assembly, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, KAIST, Daejeon, Republic of Korea

    Geon Gug Yang, Hee Jae Choi, Jang Hwan Kim & Sang Ouk Kim

  2. Institute for NanoCentry, KAIST, Daejeon, Republic of Korea

    Geon Gug Yang, Hee Jae Choi, Sheng Li, Jang Hwan Kim & Sang Ouk Kim

  3. Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, KAIST, Daejeon, Republic of Korea

    Sheng Li

  4. School of Electrical Engineering, KAIST, Daejeon, Republic of Korea

    Kyeongha Kwon

  5. Department of Organic Materials Engineering, Chungnam National University, Daejeon, Republic of Korea

    Hyeong Min Jin

  6. Department of Robotics and Mechatronics Engineering, DGIST, Daegu, Republic of Korea

    Bong Hoon Kim

  7. Materials Creation, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Sang Ouk Kim

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Contributions

G.G.Y. and H.J.C. researched data for the article. G.G.Y., H.J.C., S.L., J.H.K., K.K., H.M.J., B.H.K. and S.O.K. wrote the article. S.O.K. initiated and supervised the entire project. All authors contributed substantially to the discussion of content and edited the manuscript before submission.

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Correspondence to Bong Hoon Kim or Sang Ouk Kim.

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Yang, G.G., Choi, H.J., Li, S. et al. Intelligent block copolymer self-assembly towards IoT hardware components. Nat Rev Electr Eng 1, 124–138 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44287-024-00017-w

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