Development of an UV rolling system for fabrication of micro/nano structure on polymeric films using a gas-roller-sustained seamless PDMS mold

Roller imprinting is one of the most effective methods to fabricate polymeric plate components with nanostructures on the surface. In this study, a gas-bag roller is employed to increase the contact area and ensure conformity of contact between the roller mold and the substrate. The gas-bag roller has a seamless polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) roller mold with a nano-pillar array. Most of the replicated patterns are not continuous because of roller mold with seams, therefore, the seamless roller mold was produced by PDMS and used to imprint the patterns in this research. Micro/nano-structures were fabricated by casting into the micro/nano-pores of the anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) roller. The micro/nano-pores in the AAO roller are made by a two-step anodization process from a circular aluminum tube of 99.9% purity. An UV-based imprinting facility integrating a gas-bag roller and PDMS roller mold were designed and implemented to replicate nanostructures on the surface of the polycarbonate (PC) continuously. The antireflection and the hydrophobic effects of the fabricated PC film were verified. The reflection drops from 14.7% in the bare PC film to 2% in the PC film, and the contact angle increases from 77.5° in the bare PC film to 124.1° in the PC film with nanostructures.