Durable Metallization of Resin Surfaces via Sacrificial Nanotransfer Lithography

By combining sacrificial nanoimprint lithography (SNIL) and transfer printing, sacrificial nanotransfer (SNT) lithography can create metalized polymer surfaces that enable lightweight conductive surface composites. SNT begins with a metal mold made from a high surface finish metal possessing high resistance to intermetallic alloying. A thin metallic transfer layer is then electroplated onto the mold by selecting a material unlikely to alloy with the surface. The selected nanomaterial, zinc oxide (ZnO), is grown on the top layer of the plated metallic transfer layer via a seedless hydrothermal approach used to synthesize high‐quality ZnO nanowire arrays. A resin material or laminate is cured in contact with the ZnO nanostructures, such that the ZnO nanorods are embedded onto the top layer of the resin. The embedded nanomaterials provide a larger surface area than the weak transfer layer‐mold interface. As a result, when the final component is removed from the mold, the metallic multilayer is transferred with it. The final metalized polymeric surface resembles the same surface finish as the starting mold, with an exposed metal layer and a durable interface. In this study, the importance of nanomaterial morphology and the selection of metal layers are explored to obtain high‐quality final transfers.