Design and fabrication of tailored 3D nanostructures based on nanotransfer printing and deep etching for nanoscale device applications

Abstract

Today, nanomaterials have already been used in many parts of our life. They have been used in fields because of their unique and useful properties, which are different from bulk materials and they accomplished remarkable achievements. As interest in nanomaterials increases, many researches on the manufacturing technologies have been carried out in order to develop more efficient fabrication methods. However, 3D nanostructures cannot be widely used, even their effectiveness in specific fields, because their complicated structures make difficult the precise structural controls. Most of the 3D nanostructure fabrication processes have trade-off between controllability and throughput. In this dissertation, a novel fabrication method with excellent controllability and high throughput using by solvent-assisted nanotransfer printing and plasma deep etching process and its application will be described. In Chapter 2, we will demonstrate 3D nanostructures on polymer electrolyte membrane surface for high performance polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) and clarify the performance enhancement mechanism through sophisticated structural controls. The created surface nanostructures effectively increase the active surface area and enhance the mass transport. In Chapter 3, we will describe multiscale patterned surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate for E.coli detection. The substrates are customized to the size of E.coli which is much larger compared to conventional analytes. The customized structures can confine E.coli and remarkably enhance Raman signals through the enlarged contact area and dense nanoscale patterns. This 3D nanostructure fabrication process will be able to use in various applications due to its improved structural controllability and high throughput. We can solve the problems of conventional fabrication technologies with this novel method.