Multidimensional surface patterning based on wavelength-controlled disulfide-diselenide dynamic photochemistry

Controlling surface properties in a spatiotemporal and reversible manner is highly attractive for novel functional surfaces, as it allows them to act in a much smarter way. Surface modification strategies based on photochemical metathesis reactions are seemed as promising solutions for such demands, due to their high spatiotemporal controllability and the perfect reversibility. In this paper, we demonstrate a powerful strategy to precisely manipulate the surface functions by the combination of wavelength-controlled disulfide-diselenide dynamic photochemistry and a 405 nm digital light processing (DLP) projector. We show that, by this method, the arrangement of chemical moieties on a disulfide surface can be exactly controlled, leading to complex patterned surfaces with multinary and grayscale molecular distributions. Moreover, owing to the wavelength-dependent reactivity of the -S-S-and -S-Se- groups, the surface functions can be selectively and dynamically adjusted by light with different colors (wavelength). Based on these unique features, the chemical moieties on every point of the surface can be exactly controlled and dynamically manipulated by our strategy, making the generated surfaces quite versatile and smart. We demonstrate the successful application of this method in high-level information encryption and transformation.

Automated summary

This paper presents a strategy for precisely manipulating surface functions using wavelength-controlled photochemical reactions and a 405 nm digital light processing (DLP) projector. The arrangement of chemical moieties on the surface can be precisely controlled, leading to complex patterned surfaces. Additionally, the surface functions can be selectively and dynamically adjusted by light with different wavelengths. This method has potential applications in high-level information encryption and transformation.