An Extremely Simple and Effective Strategy to Tailor the Surface Performance of Inorganic Substrates by Two New Photochemical Reactions

This article reports on a new sequential strategy to fabricate monolayer functional organosilane films on inorganic substrate surfaces, and subsequently, to pattern them by two new photochemical reactions. (1) By using UV light (254 nm) plus dimethylformamide (DMF), a functional silane monolayer film could be fabricated quickly (within minutes) under ambient temperature. (2) The organic groups of the formed films became decomposed in a few minutes with UV irradiation coupled with a water solution of ammonium persulfate (APS). (3) When two photochemical reactions were sequentially combined, a high-quality patterned functional surface could be obtained thanks to the photomask.