Decomposition behaviors of polymers have been widely studied in material science, but as-created chemical and physical structural changes have been rarely considered as an opportunity for wettability manipulation.

  In our recent work, we report a facile and fast mask-free etching method for accurate surface patterning by controlling the confined decomposition of material surfaces. With a common printing technology, intrinsic, complex and accurate patterns (QR code, for example) are fabricated efficiently. Such intrinsic patterns can be used for realizing information storage and encryption. With selective wettability, pattern information can be stored and encrypted on the cellulose film; upon exposure to external stimuli, such as water, encryption keys can be read. Moreover, such a method can also be used to prepare functional materials, flexible electronics for instance. The as-prepared Ag electrode presents high electrical conductivity (63.9×10⁶ S cm^-1) and bending-deformation resistance. 

Such surface wettable patterning strategy is scalable, as long as ay substrates satisfy the three requirements:

1) chemical reactions/treatments (including chemical degradation, decomposition, and even conjugation) can be conducted for substrate surfaces;

2) the substrate surfaces can be written with inks and can well maintain ink patterns;

3) the original region and ink-printed region have different wettabilities to etching agents, enabling confined-etching treatments.

Such a mask-free and simple method shows great potential in the mass production of accurate functional patterns. We believe this strategy can be applied for more material surfaces, bringing more opportunities for wide applications.

For more details, see our paper in Nature Communications: 

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-30832-4