Journal
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
Volume 8, Issue 18, Pages 11459-11465Publisher
AMER CHEMICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.6b01555
Keywords
thermal imprinting; creep behavior; multiscale patterning; Nafion; polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells
Funding
- Global Frontier R&D Program of the Center for Multiscale Energy Systems - NRF, Korea [2011-0031561]
- Institute for Basic Science (IBS) in Republic of Korea [IBS-R006-G1]
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The capability of fabricating multiscale structures with desired morphology and incorporating them into engineering applications is key to realizing technological breakthroughs by employing the benefits from both microscale and nanoscale morphology simultaneously. Here, we developed a facile patterning method to fabricate multiscale hierarchical structures by a novel approach called creep assisted sequential imprinting. In this work, nanopatterning was first carried out by thermal imprint lithography above the glass transition temperature (T-g) of a polymer film, and then followed by creep-assisted imprinting with micropattems based on the mechanical deformation of the polymer film under the relatively long-term exposure to mechanical stress at temperatures below the T-g of the polymer. The fabricated multiscale arrays exhibited excellent pattern uniformity over large areas. To demonstrate the usage of multiscale architectures, we incorporated the multiscale Nafion films into polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell, and this device showed more than 10% higher performance than the conventional one. The enhancement was attributed to the decrease in mass transport resistance because of unique cone shape morphology by creep-recovery effects and the increase in interfacial surface area between Nafion film and electrocatalyst layer.
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