Aminosilane micropatterns on hydroxyl-terminated substrates: Fabrication and applications

The technique to pattern aminosilanes on hydroxyl-terminated substrates will open up extensive applications in many fields. There are some existing methods to pattern aminosilanes, in particular, (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane (APTES) on SiO₂ and glass substrates through indirect routes. However, few reports focus on the direct patterning of APTES by microcontact printing (μCP), due to the volatility of "inks" which consist of APTES and organic solvents. This report shows that high-quality APTES patterns on hydroxyl-terminated substrates can be directly obtained by μCP using an APTES aqueous solution as "ink". Gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) have been used to verify the presence and quality of APTES patterns on which they are selectively adsorbed. Thus-obtained Au NP patterns can serve as templates for the growth of ZnO nanostructures. Lectins are also successfully immobilized on the APTES patterns, with glutaraldehyde as linker. We believe that our method will serve as a general approach and find a wide range of applications in the fabrication of patterns and devices.