Fabrication of Fluorescent Surface Relief Patterns Using AIE Polymer Through a Soft Lithographic Approach

A new aggregation-induced emission (AIE) active polymer (PS-TPE) with high tetraphenylethene (TPE) loading density was synthesized. The synthesized polymer showed significant AIE properties, good solubility and high thermal stability. Soft-lithographic contact printing process by using photoinduced surface relief structures on azo polymer film as masters and duplicated PDMS elastomer as stamps was used to fabricate fluorescent PS-TPE patterns. Various fluorescent structures with high contrast including surface relief gratings, periodically dotted patterns, and quasi-crystal structures can be easily fabricated through this approach. (C) 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.