Controllable assembly and disassembly of high aspect ratio micropillar arrays and their applications

Flexible materials PDMS has been fabricated into different kinds of structures and contributed to the materials science and engineering area. Due to its easy-to-fabricate nature, many shapes had been designed to fit the need of applications. Among them, micropillar arrays are important for many appl...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Wang, Yu
Other Authors: Chen Xiaodong
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10356/70840
_version_ 1811689566907662336
author Wang, Yu
author2 Chen Xiaodong
author_facet Chen Xiaodong
Wang, Yu
author_sort Wang, Yu
collection NTU
description Flexible materials PDMS has been fabricated into different kinds of structures and contributed to the materials science and engineering area. Due to its easy-to-fabricate nature, many shapes had been designed to fit the need of applications. Among them, micropillar arrays are important for many applications, including cellular mechanosensory and actuators, dry adhesives mimicking gecko’s foot structures and optical applications such as ultrathin paper whitening membranes. And as the surface area is relatively large and aspect ratio is high, the micropillars will deform under minuscule external forces such as capillary force when liquids evaporated from the micropillar surfaces. Previously researchers had developed many applications from this unique property and studied the mechanism of micropillar assembly under capillary force. However, it lacked in-depth understanding in the deformation process. In this thesis, we had systematically studied the controlling factors of micropillar array assembly, including pattern geometry, and surface chemistry. Besides, mathematic models had been built to predict the pillar assembly patterns by calculation. We studied the micropillar deformation under capillary force both theoretically and experimentally. And we created a series of assembled micropillar patterns that can trap bacteria and microparticles based on their size. Moreover, we successfully developed a hydrogel coated PDMS micropillar array structure. It was responsive to dual stimuli, mechanical stretch, and pH changes and controllably release the trapped microparticles. These devices had potential to be applied in live bacteria capture for drug screening devices, and mechanical force triggered pH-responsive controlled drug release devices.
first_indexed 2024-10-01T05:50:09Z
format Thesis
id ntu-10356/70840
institution Nanyang Technological University
language English
last_indexed 2024-10-01T05:50:09Z
publishDate 2017
record_format dspace
spelling ntu-10356/708402023-03-04T16:45:42Z Controllable assembly and disassembly of high aspect ratio micropillar arrays and their applications Wang, Yu Chen Xiaodong School of Materials Science & Engineering DRNTU::Engineering::Materials Flexible materials PDMS has been fabricated into different kinds of structures and contributed to the materials science and engineering area. Due to its easy-to-fabricate nature, many shapes had been designed to fit the need of applications. Among them, micropillar arrays are important for many applications, including cellular mechanosensory and actuators, dry adhesives mimicking gecko’s foot structures and optical applications such as ultrathin paper whitening membranes. And as the surface area is relatively large and aspect ratio is high, the micropillars will deform under minuscule external forces such as capillary force when liquids evaporated from the micropillar surfaces. Previously researchers had developed many applications from this unique property and studied the mechanism of micropillar assembly under capillary force. However, it lacked in-depth understanding in the deformation process. In this thesis, we had systematically studied the controlling factors of micropillar array assembly, including pattern geometry, and surface chemistry. Besides, mathematic models had been built to predict the pillar assembly patterns by calculation. We studied the micropillar deformation under capillary force both theoretically and experimentally. And we created a series of assembled micropillar patterns that can trap bacteria and microparticles based on their size. Moreover, we successfully developed a hydrogel coated PDMS micropillar array structure. It was responsive to dual stimuli, mechanical stretch, and pH changes and controllably release the trapped microparticles. These devices had potential to be applied in live bacteria capture for drug screening devices, and mechanical force triggered pH-responsive controlled drug release devices. Doctor of Philosophy (MSE) 2017-05-11T08:33:07Z 2017-05-11T08:33:07Z 2017 Thesis Wang, Y. (2017). Controllable assembly and disassembly of high aspect ratio micropillar arrays and their applications. Doctoral thesis, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. http://hdl.handle.net/10356/70840 10.32657/10356/70840 en 138 p. application/pdf
spellingShingle DRNTU::Engineering::Materials
Wang, Yu
Controllable assembly and disassembly of high aspect ratio micropillar arrays and their applications
title Controllable assembly and disassembly of high aspect ratio micropillar arrays and their applications
title_full Controllable assembly and disassembly of high aspect ratio micropillar arrays and their applications
title_fullStr Controllable assembly and disassembly of high aspect ratio micropillar arrays and their applications
title_full_unstemmed Controllable assembly and disassembly of high aspect ratio micropillar arrays and their applications
title_short Controllable assembly and disassembly of high aspect ratio micropillar arrays and their applications
title_sort controllable assembly and disassembly of high aspect ratio micropillar arrays and their applications
topic DRNTU::Engineering::Materials
url http://hdl.handle.net/10356/70840
work_keys_str_mv AT wangyu controllableassemblyanddisassemblyofhighaspectratiomicropillararraysandtheirapplications