Wet chemical syntheses of Ag-nanoparticles

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Engineering Micropatterned Dry Adhesives: From Contact Theory to Handling Applications

Reversible adhesion is the key functionality to grip, place, and release objects nondestructively. Inspired by nature, micropatterned dry adhesives are promising candidates for this purpose and have attracted the attention of research groups worldwide. Their enhanced adhesion compared to nonpatterned surfaces is frequently demonstrated. An important conclusion is that the contact mechanics involved is at least as important as the surface energy and chemistry. In this paper, the roles of the contact geometry and mechanical properties are reviewed. With a focus on applications, the effects of substrate roughness and of temperature variations, and the long-term performance of micropatterned adhesives are discussed. The paper provides a link between the current, detailed understanding of micropatterned adhesives and emerging applications

Tuning the Release Force of Microfibrillar Adhesives by Geometric Design

Switchable micropatterned adhesives exhibit high potential as novel resource-efficient grippers in future pick-and-place systems. In contrast with the adhesion acting during the “pick” phase, the release during the “place” phase has received little research attention so far. For objects smaller than typically 1 mm, release may become difficult as gravitational and inertial forces are no longer sufficient to allow shedding of the object. A compressive overload can initiate release by elastic buckling of the fibrils, but the switching ratio (ratio between high and low adhesion force) is typically only 2–3. In this work, new microfibrillar designs are reported exhibiting directional buckling with high switching ratios in the order of 20. Their functionality is illustrated by in situ optical observation of the contact signatures. Such micropatterns can enable the successful release of small objects with high placement accuracy

The formation of gradients in wet deposited coatings with photocatalytically active nanoparticles

A total of 81 doped and undoped anatase nano-particles were synthesised by a precipitation/co-precipitation process followed by a hydrothermal treatment to obtain increased visible light photocatalytic activity. The screening process was performed utilising a high throughput analysis system based on the photometric monitoring of the photocatalytic degradation of organic dyes (Rhodamine B, Malachite Green, Acid Blue 29). Photocatalytically active coatings were prepared with selected catalysts with high and low rankings from the screening. Degradation experiments with stearic acid could confirm the varying grades of visible light activity as seen in the screening process

A bioinspired snap-through metastructure for manipulating micro-objects

Micro-objects stick tenaciously to each other—a well-known show-stopper in microtechnology and in handling micro-objects. Inspired by the trigger plant, we explore a mechanical metastructure for overcoming adhesion involving a snap-action mechanism. We analyze the nonlinear mechanical response of curved beam architectures clamped by a tunable spring, incorporating mono- and bistable states. As a result, reversible miniaturized snap-through devices are successfully realized by micron-scale direct printing, and successful pick-and-place handling of a micro-object is demonstrated. The technique is applicable to universal scenarios, including dry and wet environment, or smooth and rough counter surfaces. With an unprecedented switching ratio (between high and low adhesion) exceeding 104, this concept proposes an efficient paradigm for handling and placing superlight objects

Tailored polyurethane acrylate blend for large-scale and high-performance micropatterned dry adhesives

Continuous roll-to-roll fabrication is essential for transferring the idea of bio-inspired, fibrillar dry adhesives into large-scale, synthetic, high-performance adhesive tapes. Toward this aim, we investigated process parameters that allow us to control the morphology and the resulting adhesion of mushroom-shaped micropatterned surfaces. Flexible silicone templates enabled the replication process of the polyurethane acrylate pre-polymer involving UV-light-induced cross-linking. For this paper, we particularly tailored the polyurethane acrylate pre-polymer by adding chemical components to tune UV curing kinetics and to reduce oxygen inhibition of radicals. We found that higher intensities of the UV light and faster reaction kinetics improved the quality of the microstructures, i.e., a larger cap diameter of the mushroom tips was achieved. The polymer blend U6E4 exhibited the fastest curing kinetics, which resulted in a micromorphology similar to that of the Ni-shim master structures. Best adhesion results were obtained for adhesive tapes made from U6E4 with 116 kPa pull-off stress, 1.4 N cm−1 peel strength and 71 kPa shear strength. In addition, repeated attachment–detachment tests over 100,000 cycles demonstrated strong robustness and reusability

Roll-to-Roll Manufacturing of Micropatterned Adhesives by Template Compression

For the next generation of handling systems, reversible adhesion enabled by micropatterned dry adhesives exhibits high potential. The versatility of polymeric micropatterns in handling objects made from various materials has been demonstrated by several groups. However, specimens reported in most studies have been restricted to the laboratory scale. Upscaling the size and quantity of micropatterned adhesives is the next step to enable successful technology transfer. Towards this aim, we introduce a continuous roll-to-roll replication process for fabrication of high-performance, mushroom-shaped micropatterned dry adhesives. The micropatterns were made from UV-curable polyurethane acrylates. To ensure the integrity of the complex structure during the fabrication process, flexible templates were used. The compression between the template and the wet prepolymer coating was investigated to optimize replication results without structural failures, and hence, to improve adhesion. As a result, we obtained micropatterned adhesive tapes, 10 cm in width and several meters in length, with adhesion strength about 250 kPa to glass, suitable for a wide range of applications

Synthesis and characterization of metallic and oxidic nanostructures

Nanopartikel und weitere Strukturen mit Ausdehnungen von weniger als 100 nm in mindestens einer Dimension sind aufgrund ihrer oft außergewöhnlichen optischen, elektrischen, magnetischen und mechanischen Eigenschaften bereits seit längerem von hohem wissenschaftlichen und, aufgrund von Fortschritten in der Produktionstechnik, heutzutage auch wirtschaftlichen Interesse. Dabei wird es immer wichtiger, gezielt und reproduzierbar die Größe, Form, chemische Zusammensetzung und kristalline Struktur einstellen zu können. Die Suche nach geeigneten Synthesewegen ist daher aktueller denn je. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurden Strategien zur nasschemischen Hochtemperatur-Synthese über Multi- und Single-Source-Precursoren zur Darstellung monodisperser Silber- und Eisen/Platin-Partikel verfolgt. Diese zeichnen sich durch (auch für Nanopartikel) besondere optische und magnetische Eigenschaften aus. Darüber hinaus wurde versucht, einen kleinen Einblick in die immer noch kaum verstandenen Reaktionsmechanismen bei diesen Partikelsynthesen zu erlangen und zu untersuchen, wie sich die Änderung eines oder mehrerer Syntheseparameter auf die erhaltenen Strukturen auswirkt. Neben den "erwarteten" Ergebnissen, führte dieser Ansatz auch zu "unerwarteten" Ergebnissen. Namentlich zu Silberplättchen mit ungewöhnlicher kristalliner Struktur und Platin-Magnetit core-shell Partikeln deren Hülle kristallographisch orientiert auf den Kern aufwuchs.Nanoparticles and further structures of less than 100 nm at least in one dimension, are distinguished by their often exceptional optical, electrical, magnetic, and mechanical properties. Thus they are of high scientific and due to advancements within the field of production technology also of considerable economic interest. By now it is becoming more and more important to systematically tailor the size, shape, chemical composition, and crystalline structure of those nanostructures. The search of suitable synthesis pathways is getting more and more prevailing. In this work, strategies for the wet chemical high-temperature-synthesis of monodisperse silver- and iron/platinum-particles by use of multi- and single-source-precursors were pursued. These materials display special optical and magnetic characteristics, even compared to other nanoparticles. An additional aim was to gain insight into the still poorly understood reaction mechanisms of particle synthesis-pathways and to investigate the impact of one or various synthesis parameters on the resulting structures. Beside of "expected" results, some unexpected ones were also obtained: namely, small silver plates with unusual crystalline structure and platinum-magnetite core-shell particles whose shell grew crystallographically oriented on top of the core