Nanostructured films by the self-assembly of bioactive copolymer

Abstract

The synthesis of multifunctional macromolecules has become an important topic, as advances are made in biological sensing technology. Various templates that may be quantified with the presentation of bioactive molecules and the control over their density and orientation are required. The paper shows that thin films based on a bioactive copolymer, acrylamide/N-(2-dibenzylamino-ethyl)-acrylamide (1), with arrays of submicro and nanoscale cavities can be formed under ambient conditions, using a self-organization method, such as a dewetting process. We showed that the concentration of 1 in its water solution, as well as the hydrophobicity of a film support, are key parameters, which allow the control over nanocavity formation on the surfaces of the thin films of 1; the surface morphologies were studied using Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). The simple procedure used for engineering DNA trapping nanocavities on the surface of the bioactive thin films of 1 makes these films very promising for applications where the nanoscale detection of biomacromolecules is required.