Facile electrochemical fabrication of polymeric templates for spatially selective deposition of metals

Here, we report on a simple and general approach to fabricate polymeric (poly(2-methoxyaniline)) templates for deposition of silver in the form of micro islands on the electrode surface. The method is based on the application of electrochemically generated hydrogen microbubbles to locally block polymerization of monomers on the surface. This yields micrometer-sized holes within the forming polymeric film, which act as gate sites enabling further selective deposition of the metal on the surface.