Positive and negative TiO2 micropatterns on organic polymer substrates.

Ordered titanium dioxide (TiO2) films have received increasing attention because of their great potential in photocatalysis, energy conversion, and electrooptical techniques. Such films are often fabricated as coatings on various substrates such as silicon or a variety of polymers. Liquid-phase deposition (LPD) of TiO2 films is especially promising for organic substrates due to its very mild reaction conditions. In the present paper, LPD is conducted on a wettability-patterned polypropylene surface to fabricate positive and negative TiO2 micropatterns. A thin layer of ammonium persulfate in an aqueous solution was sandwiched between two biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) films, and a photomask was employed to control the irradiation region. Within a short time interval, a high hydrophilicity could be obtained on the irradiation region, and an effective wettability contrast between the irradiated and unirradiated regions could be created to further induce the formation of two types of TiO2 micropatterns. Up until now, most approaches for micropatterning have been based on self-assembled monolayers on surfaces of gold (or other noble metals), silicon, and various polyesters. With the present method, however, there is no longer any limitation in the type of substrate used. Our work demonstrates that an anatase TiO2 film could be selectively deposited on a hydrophilic region, giving rise to a positive pattern with significant bonding strength and good line edge acuity, providing an effective solution toward the microfabrication on various inert polymer substrates. More surprisingly, we find, for the first time, that TiO2 could also be selectively retained on a hydrophobic region to form a negative pattern by simply adjusting the reaction conditions. Further analysis of the mechanism shows that, independent of the deposition conditions, the TiO2 deposition pattern changes gradually, from being initially negative to becoming positive as the deposition time increases. The surface functionality changes (from sulfate to hydroxyl groups) during the deposition, and the resulting difference in the affinity for TiO2 is used to interpret this negative-to-positive pattern change. Such negative patterns refute the conventional opinion that only hydrophilic regions favor the formation of TiO2 films and could be used to fabricate large areas (mm2) of interconnected TiO2 micronetworks. Such networks are difficult to obtain by conventional metallic masks, and the present method is expected to provide new strategies in the fabrication of flexible photomasks and macro/mesoporous TiO2 films. An example is given wherein a patterned photografting of poly(acrylic acid) on the surface of BOPP is achieved by using such a polymer-based photomask. The innovativeness of this method arises from its ability to provide negative patterning, whereas present related approaches have been found only to give positive patterns from an equivalent photomask. Unlike complex photolithography procedures, our irradiation and patterning process does not require the use of positive or negative photoresists, and should thus prove to be a simple, fast, and low-cost method.