Fabrication of high aspect ratio (> 100:1) nanopillar array based on thiol-ene

• We developed a method to fabricate high-aspect-ratio nanopillar array based on thiol-ene.
• Thiol-ene is low-viscosity to overcome surface tension of deep hole on the AAO mold.
• An over 100:1 aspect ratio and 296 nm diameter nanopillar array was fabricated.

Nanopillar arrays have attracted considerable attention lately based on confinement effects and large surface to volume ratios. In this study, we demonstrated an efficient low-cost method for fabrication of large-area high aspect ratio nanopillars based on thiol-ene. Anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) template with ordered deep hole array was employed as the master mold. The low-viscosity and highly rigid UV-curable thiol-ene polymer was used as the structure material. The deep holes were filled with the liquid thiol-ene by overcoming the surface tension. Upon curing under UV irradiation, the thiol-ene formed a rigid cross-linked polymer network. The thiol-ene nanopillars were achieved after releasing the AAO mold in the corrosive solution, due to the corrosive-resistance of the cross-linked polymer. Based on the novel method, we fabricated thiol-ene nanopillar array with the diameter of 296 nm and aspect ratio of higher than 100:1. The experimental results demonstrated that the properties of thiol-ene polymer were excellent and the fabrication method was feasible.

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