High Rate Printing of Microscale and Nanoscale Patterns Using Interfacial Convective Assembly

The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the areas of the patterned substrate onto which nanoelements are transferred has a contact angle from 0° to about 130°.

The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the areas of the patterned substrate onto which nanoelements are transferred have substantially the same contact angle as areas of the patterned substrate that do not bind nanoelements.

The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the areas of the patterned substrate onto which nanoelements are transferred have a lower contact angle than areas of the patterned substrate that do not bind nanoelements.

The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the areas of the patterned substrate onto which nanoelements are transferred are sunken below areas of the patterned substrate that do not bind nanoelements, and wherein the difference in height between the areas that do and do not bind nanoelements is at least about the same as the size of the nanoelements.

The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the patterned substrate has at least one pattern feature having a dimension in the range from about 1 nm to about 1000 nm, preferably from about 5 nm to about 100 nm.

The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the aqueous suspension of nanoelements is drop cast onto the solvent film.

The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein confining the interfacial liquid system comprises placing a cover over the interfacial liquid system.

The method of any of the preceding claims, further comprising

• (f) tilting the patterned substrate, whereby non-transferred nanoelements are removed from the patterned substrate.

The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the patterned substrate is heated in (e) to a temperature in the range from about 40° C. to about 75° C.

The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the method is completed in less than 30 minutes, preferably in less than 10 minutes, more preferably in less than 5 minutes.

The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the convective flow transfers at least a portion of the nanoelements to the one or more areas of the patterned substrate that bind the nanoelements.

The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the convective flow comprises solutal Marangoni convective flow in a direction towards the patterned substrate.

The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein a patterned monolayer of the nanoelements is deposited onto the substrate.

The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the nanoelements are nanoparticles, preferably nanoparticles comprising gold, silver, one or more polymers, carbon, silica, or a combination thereof.

The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the patterned substrate comprises silicon.

The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the method does not include electrophoretic or dielectrophoretic assembly of the nanoelements.

A method of fabricating a patterned multilayered nanomaterial, the method comprising performing the method of any of the preceding claims to assemble a first patterned monolayer of nanoelements followed by repeating the method one or more times to add additional monolayers of the nanoelements on top of the previous monolayer or layers.

A device made by the method of any of the preceding claims.