Reversibly bonded nanocapillaries by electrostatic forces

Reversibly bonded nanocapillaries (500 - 50 nm) were fabricated on gold and silicon substrates using electrostatic forces that can be generated on a rigiflex mold upon removal from an original, engraved silicon master. Polyethylene glycol diacrylate (PEG-DA) was used as a rigiflex mold material with highly negative surface charges (zeta potential: -113.55 mW). The rigiflex, transparent PEG-DA mold spontaneously wets gold or silicon substrate via electrostatic attraction, forming reversibly bonded nanocapillaries without any surface modifications or external stimuli. Using these nanocapillaries, nanolines or nanowells were fabricated without residual layer along with one-dimensional arrays of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and gold nanoparticles.