Surface pattern formation on soft polymer substrate through photo‐initiated graft polymerization

Techniques for large‐area pattern formation on polymeric substrates are important for fabricating a large variety of functional devices, such as flexible electronics, tunable optical devices, adhesives, and so on. The present study demonstrates a method for pattern formation on poly(dimethylsiloxane) that involves grafting methacrylate polymers through photo‐initiated polymerization. The influence of substrate stiffness and monomers type on pattern formation was investigated. Firstly, the stiffness of the substrate was found to affect the topology of the patterns produced. The gap width of convex regions of the pattern was enlarged with decreasing stiffness. It was found that the gap width trended in a manner that was consistent with previous reports, but in this study, relatively large gap widths were observed compared with those from previous studies. Secondly, it was revealed that the solubility of the monomer in the poly(dimethylsiloxane) precursor was the dominant factor in determining whether or not pattern formation occurred. When using insoluble monomers (glycidyl methacrylate and benzyl methacrylate), characteristic patterns were observed. It is speculated that intermolecular attractive forces between the grafted polymers induce lateral aggregation on the substrate, resulting in buckling instability of the grafted polymer layer caused by a mismatch in the equilibrium between the grafted polymer layer and the substrate. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.