Photoactuated Pens for Molecular Printing

Abstract

The photoactuation of pen arrays made of polydimethylsiloxane carbon nanotube composites is explored, and the first demonstration of photoactuated pens for molecular printing is reported. Photoactuation of these composites is characterized using atomic force microscopy and found to produce microscale motion in response to modest illumination, with an actuation efficiency as high as 200 nm mW⁻¹ on the sub-1 s time scale. Arrays of composite pens are synthesized and it is found that local illumination is capable of moving selected pens by more than 3 µm out of the plane, bringing them into contact to perform controllable and high quality printing while completely shutting off the nonilluminated counterparts. In light of the scalability limitations of nanolithography, this work presents an important step and paves the way for arbitrary control of individual pens in massive arrays. As an example of a scalable soft actuator, this approach can also aid progress in other fields such as soft robotics and microfluidics.

Photoactuated pens are demonstrated from polydimethylsiloxane–carbon nanotube composites and used to perform molecular printing. Upon modest light irradiation, the pens can expand out of plane by more than three micrometers. The photoactuation is rapid, energy efficient, and highly reversible.

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