Solvent Tunable Optical Properties of a Polymerized Vinyl- and Thienyl-Substituted Ionic Liquid

Electron Beam Patterning of Polymerizable Ionic Liquid Films for Application in Photonics

Planar photonic components can be fabricated with high resolution by electron beam patterning of polymer thin films on solid substrates such as silicon and glass. However, polymer films are normally formed by spin-coating lithographic resists containing not only polymers but also volatile solvents, which is a serious environmental and health issue. Therefore, we investigate a new type of material for planar structure fabrication (i.e., room-temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) with a polymerizable allyl group) that is electron-beam-curable, solvent-free, and thus potentially interesting for processing materials with weak resistance to solvents. We fabricate planar polymer microstructures by electron beam patterning of RTIL thin films in vacuum, which is possible because of the negligible volatility of ionic liquids. Three different polymerizable ionic liquids {i.e., [Allmim][Cl] (1-allyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride), [Allmim][NTf₂] (1-allyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide), and [Allmmim][NTf₂] (1-allyl-2,3-dimethylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide)} are compared in terms of the quality of the fabricated microstructures. We demonstrate that the shape of the more viscous RTIL with the Cl^- anion is less distorted during electron-beam-activated polymerization than the shape of the less viscous RTILs with a large NTf₂^- anion. Furthermore, the surface tension of the NTf₂-based ionic liquid decreases significantly with temperature as compared to that of the Cl-based ionic liquid. Thus, we suggest that the thermocapillary effect, that is, the Marangoni flow caused by a temperature gradient, might be responsible for the differences in the shape of the RTIL-derived microstructures. Also, we analyze the chemistry of the electron-beam-activated polymerization of RTIL by the use of Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and conclude that because of the disappearance of C═C bonds the free radical polymerization is a probable reaction mechanism. Finally, we show that polymerized microstructures are potentially attractive as planar photonic components because of good optical properties such as a high refractive index.

Ionic liquids-a novel material for planar photonics

Electron beam patterning is an important technology in the fabrication of miniaturized photonic devices. The fabrication process conventionally involves the use of radiation sensitive polymer-based solutions (called resists). We propose to replace typical polymer resists with eco-friendly solvent-free room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs), which are polymerized in situ and solidified by an electron beam. It is demonstrated that the shapes of polymerized structures are different for high-viscous Cl-based RTILs and low-viscous NTf₂-based RTILs. Due to the the satisfactory quality of the polymerized spatial microstructures and their light transmission properties, the RTIL-derived microstructures are potentially attractive as photonic elements for near-infrared.

Effect of ELP Sequence and Fusion Protein Design on Concentrated Solution Self-Assembly

Fusion proteins provide a facile route for the purification and self-assembly of biofunctional protein block copolymers into complex nanostructures; however, the use of biochemical synthesis techniques introduces unexplored variables into the design of the structures. Using model fusion constructs of the red fluorescent protein mCherry and the coil-like protein elastin-like polypeptide (ELP), it is shown that the molar mass and hydrophobicity of the ELP sequence have a large effect on the propensity of a fusion to form well-ordered nanostructures, even when the ELP is in the low temperature, highly solvated state. In contrast, the presence of a 6xHis purification tag has little effect on self-assembly, and the order of blocks in the construct (N-terminal vs C-terminal) only has a significant effect on the nanostructure when the conjugates are heated above the transition temperature of the ELP block. These results indicate that for a sufficiently hydrophobic and high molar mass ELP block, there is a great deal of design latitude in the construction of fusion protein block copolymers for self-assembling nanomaterials.