Skip to main content
Article
Scalable Fabrication of Low Elastic Modulus Polymeric Nanocarriers With Controlled Shapes for Diagnostics and Drug Delivery
Journal of Micro and Nano-Manufacturing (2015)
  • Vikramjit Singh, University of Texas at Austin
  • Rachit Agarwal, Georgia Institute of Technology
  • Patrick Jurney, University of Texas at Austin
  • Kervin Marshall, University of Texas at Austin
  • Krishnendu Roy, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University
  • Li Shi, University of Texas at Austin
  • S. V. Sreenivasan, University of Texas at Austin
Abstract
A new process, decoupled functional imprint lithography (D-FIL), is presented for fabricating low elastic modulus polymeric nanocarriers possessing Young's modulus of bulk material as low as sub-1 MPa. This method is employed to fabricate sub-50 nm diameter cylinders with >3:1 aspect ratio and other challenging shapes from low elastic modulus polymers such as N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAM) and poly(ethylene glycol) di-acrylate (PEGDA), possessing Young's modulus of bulk material <10 MPa which is cannot otherwise be imprinted in similar size and pitch using existing imprint techniques. Standard imprint lithography polymers have Young's modulus >1 GPa, and so these polymers used in nanocarrier fabrication in comparison have very low elastic modulus. Monodispersed, shape- and size-specific nanocarriers composed of NIPAM with material elastic modulus of <1 MPa have been fabricated and show thermal responsive behavior at the lower critical solubility temperature (LCST) of ∼32 °C. In addition, re-entrant shaped nanocarriers composed of PEGDA with elastic modulus <10 MPa are also fabricated. Nanocarriers fabricated from PEGDA are shown with model imaging agent and anticancer drug (Doxorubicin) encapsulated in as small as 50 nm cylindrical nanocarriers.
Keywords
  • Nanomanufacturing,
  • Nanostructure,
  • Polymers
Publication Date
March 1, 2015
DOI
10.1115/1.4028896
Publisher Statement
SJSU users: use the following link to login and access the article via SJSU databases.
Citation Information
Vikramjit Singh, Rachit Agarwal, Patrick Jurney, Kervin Marshall, et al.. "Scalable Fabrication of Low Elastic Modulus Polymeric Nanocarriers With Controlled Shapes for Diagnostics and Drug Delivery" Journal of Micro and Nano-Manufacturing Vol. 3 Iss. 1 (2015)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/patrick-jurney/9/