UV-Imprint Resists Generated from Polymerizable Ionic Liquids and Titania Nanoparticles

Ionic liquids incorporating a polymerizable anion were prepared in a facile manner and used to fabricate stable titania nanoparticle films. The nanotitania was directly patterned by UV imprinting using micrometer size test structures in a polydimethylsiloxane mold. The resulting resist microstructures are resistant to cracking with only slight shrinkage observed for the system made using a hydrophobic ionic liquid. Because ionic liquids with a plethora of different physical and chemical properties can be made (designed) in a facile manner their application in this facile process instead of organic solvents could lead to many new types of functional materials.