• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.166-171
• /
• 2017

This study analyzes the effect of anodizing conditions on nanopore formation on a cylindrical aluminum roll. In general, a nanopore is formed at the center of a concave base-pattern. Occasionally, multiple nanopores are formed on a single base-pattern. However, to control the diameter and interpore distance precisely, single nanopores are required. In this study, the ratio of the number of single nanopores to the total number of nanopores was investigated by varying anodizing conditions such as electrode area, electrolyte concentration, and rotation speed of the roll mold. The areal ratio of the counter-electrode to the working electrode (aluminum), electrolyte concentration, and the roll-mold rotation speed were varied from 0.4% to 42%, 0.07 M to 0.3 M, and 5 rpm to 75 rpm, respectively. The experimental results showed that the single-nanopore ratio increased with increasing counter-electrode area and electrolyte concentration. However, the rotation speed had no significant effect on nanopore shape.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.96-101
• /
• 2017

We have developed a compact desktop-sized nanopatterning system driven by the Roll-to-Roll (R2R) nanoimprinting (NIL) principle. The system realizes the continuous and high-speed stamping of various nanoscale patterns on a large-area flexible substrate without resorting to ponderous and complicated instruments. We first lay out the process principle based on continuous NIL on a UV-curable resin layer using a flexible nanopatterned mold. We then create conceptual and specific designs for the system by focusing on two key processes, imprinting and UV curing, which are performed in a continuous R2R fashion. We build a system with essential components and optimized modules for imprinting, UV curing, and R2R conveying to enable simple but effective nanopatterning within the desktop volume. Finally, we demonstrate several nanopatterning results such as nanolines and nanodots, which are obtained by operating the built desktop R2R NIL system on transparent and flexible substrates. Our system may be further utilized in the scalable fabrication of diverse flexible nanopatterns for many functional applications in optics, photonics, sensors, and energy harvesters.