Photo-rewritable molecular printing

A simple method is described for photopatterning rewritable reactive groups onto solid surfaces. This comprises pulsed plasmachemical deposition of anhydride functionalised nanolayers, followed by molecular printing of nucleophile-containing inks. Subsequent UV lithography erasure and anhydride group reformation allows surface rewriting (ready for reaction with further nucleophile-containing molecular inks). Using this approach, it is possible to create either positive or negative image multifunctional rewritable patterned surfaces.