THESIS
2004
xxi, 147 leaves : ill. ; 30 cm
Abstract
The presented research introduces an innovative technique in fabricating micronsized structures with specific applications. By utilizing a common everyday life phenomenon, crack formation of colloidal suspensions during evaporation, we developed a novel means in achieving micropatterns. Subsequent templated molding methods lead to the fabrication of 3-D polymeric microstructures of biomimetic scaffolds, microwells, and micromeshes. A colloid of micelles was formed from polystyrene-block-poly(acrylic acid) (PS-b-PAA) diblock copolymer. The micelles solution was dried on a silicon substrate leading to self-assembly of micelles into 3-dimensional micropatterns. The micropatterns were then used as templates to fabricate microwells and tissue culture scaffolds from biocompatible and biodegra...[
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The presented research introduces an innovative technique in fabricating micronsized structures with specific applications. By utilizing a common everyday life phenomenon, crack formation of colloidal suspensions during evaporation, we developed a novel means in achieving micropatterns. Subsequent templated molding methods lead to the fabrication of 3-D polymeric microstructures of biomimetic scaffolds, microwells, and micromeshes. A colloid of micelles was formed from polystyrene-block-poly(acrylic acid) (PS-b-PAA) diblock copolymer. The micelles solution was dried on a silicon substrate leading to self-assembly of micelles into 3-dimensional micropatterns. The micropatterns were then used as templates to fabricate microwells and tissue culture scaffolds from biocompatible and biodegradable polymers, by performing a simple lab-scale micromolding. Cultivation of human epithelial cells (Calu-3) and mouse fibroblasts (NIH-3T3) on silicone rubber microwells with biomimetic topology demonstrates the potential applications as tissue engineering scaffolds or cell based biosensors. Polystyrene microspheres immobilized with DNA oligos demonstrated successful self-organization into the microwells, and the bead-based sequence specific hybridization with fluorescent-labeled DNA probes. The findings can be applied as bead-based microarrays for multi-analytes detection. Conductive silver networks were fabricated by a gold nanoparticles induced repeat silver reduction within the channels of the diblock copolymer micropatterns. The micro silver network can be potentially useful in microelectronics and microchips development. The merit of our fabricating method is the rapid, simple and economical and in lab-scale. The technique offers an alternative to the existing microfabrication practices and can be further developed in giving prospective impacts in biotechnology and microelectronic industries.
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