Novel non-lithographic large area fabrication method to generate various polymeric nanostructures

A simple and completely non-lithographic route has been developed to fabricate freestanding nanostructured polymeric films or polymer/nanoparticle composite films with a close-packed hexagonal array of nanolenses or nanoposts by using electrochemically prepared textured aluminum sheets or mesoporous anodic aluminum oxides (AAOs) as a replication master. TEM, FE-SEM, and AFM analyses revealed that our nanofabrication procedure could provide a convenient route to produce multiple copies of polymeric nanostructures over several square centimeters, even in an ordinary laboratory where one could not make routine access to state-of-the-art lithography facilities.