Reconfigurable nano-landscapes by additive technology
- Reference number
- SAB19-0027
- Start and end dates
- 200701-221115
- Amount granted
- 0 SEK
- Administrative organization
- Göteborg University
- Research area
- Materials Science and Technology
Summary
I aim to develop a new modality for additive manufacturing at the nanoscale by using specially-synthesized polymers that can be actuated by the external stimuli. The process uses a combination of 3D printing and the custom polymers to earn the features below 100 nm. Such nanoscale features (tiles) will be able to change their lateral and vertical dimensions by applying the electric current or illuminating the surface with the wavelength-selective laser light. This bestows the real-time reconfigurability to the 3D printed surface at the nanoscale. Once the nanomanufacturing and external actuation are established, I will combine such 3D printed surfaces with: - (i) positioning the biological cells on top of such surface for the potential probing of their stiffness. Reconfiguring the surface underneath the cells would produce gradients in cell surface tension, which would signal the overall cell stiffness, where the latter is a marker for the discrimination between the cancerous and benign cells forming the basis for the new cellular diagnostics platform. The cell response would be probed optically with refractometric nanoplasmonic sensing and the surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy. - (ii) positioning the 2D materials (like graphene and transition-metal dichalcogenides on top of the nano-tiled surface gives access to the controlled nanometer local straining of the 2D materials, which is related to their light emission and band structure / electric transport engineering.
Popular science description
3D printing brings a new age to the simple and affordable manufacturing and prototyping. However, reaching the ultimately small scale for the 3D printed geometries opens a whole new range of opportunities and functions. This project will explore the 3D printing with specialty designed polymers that would be able to produce features below 100 nanometers (1 nm = 10 (-9) meters) is size. What is even more important, such specially designed polymers will be able to change their shape in real-time by shining light on them or passing the electrical current near them. That is, a 3D printed and finely-tiled surface with such polymers will be similar to the chameleon skin, changing its properties on demand. The project will explore further this exciting opportunity by building cancer cells diagnostics tool on such changeable polymers surfaces, using the fact that the cancer cells are much softer than the healthy ones. The changeable surface will help distinguishing the benign cells from the cancerous cells, making prostate or breast cancers diagnostics rapid and accurate.