Microprinting: Small 17/2009

Metal nanoparticles crosslinked with dithiol ligands give freestanding films up to several square centimeters in area and with a thickness down to a few nanometers. The films can be lifted off the supports on which they are prepared and can be transferred onto other interfaces or materials. The cover picture shows a collage of images of examples of 2 cm × 2 cm films transferred onto the liquid--air interface or onto micropatterned/curvilinear solid structures. In the latter case, the flexible films conform to the topography of the supporting patterns. The films can be subsequently used as solid “inks” for microcontact printing. For more information, please read the Communication “Lift-Off and Micropatterning of Mono- and Multilayer Nanoparticle Films” by B. A. Grzybowski et al., beginning on page 1970.