Programmable Light-driven Fabrication of Azopolymer Microstructures

Surface engineering enables the tuning of surface-driven properties, such as wettability, adhesion, and light diffraction, by manipulating the complexity and anisotropy of surface features. Traditional lithographic methods excel in precision and repeatability but are often limited by high costs, time consumption, and a lack of adaptability. Azobenzene-containing polymers present an interesting alternative, allowing direct and cost-effective fabrication of complex, three-dimensional microstructures through light-induced mass transport. [1] These materials can be directly structured in a simple optical scheme without the need of any further development step. [2] Spatially structured UV/visible light fields generate topographic modulations on the free surface of films of such materials by activating cyclic structural transitions between trans and cis isomerization states of the azomolecules. In this study, we demonstrate the fabrication of diverse surface textures and anisotropic microstructures through programmable light-driven approaches. [3]–[6]