Robust anisotropic polymer meshes prepared by stretching and photo-crosslinking of poly(1,2-butadiene) honeycomb films.

Anisotropic polymer meshes, which have micrometre-scale rectangular pores, were prepared by simple stretching and photo-crosslinking of poly(1,2-butadiene) honeycomb films. First, honeycomb films with pores of uniform size were prepared by a simple self-organization process. Then, after stretching and UV photo-crosslinking, anisotropic polymer meshes were formed. These anisotropic polymer meshes had high chemical and thermal stability, and exhibited anisotropic wettability. Moreover, by using a photo-crosslinking process, the anisotropic meshes could be photo-patterned. These anisotropic polymer meshes are expected to be applicable to digital microfluidic devices, cell aligners, and other such devices.