Creating ordered small-scale biologically-based rods through force-controlled stamping

The synthesis of small-scale rods has garnered significant scientific interest because of the novel structures, properties, and potential applications that could be enabled in fields such as optics, electronic nanodevice production, and chemical and biological sensor fabrication. One main concern in this field though is the ability to assemble nanorods at desired locations on a substrate. In this Communication, we showed a printing method that imposes a mechanical force on the upper surface of the stamp to regulate the dewetting process of the inorganic buffer, and, consequently, the evaporation rate of the solvent in this buffer. We used this to influence the characteristics of the dewetting process and the polymerization of G-actin in vitro, ultimately providing us with the ability to obtain organized filamentous actin-based nanorods in defined patterns. This work has potential applications in a variety of fields including the study of self-organized biologically inspired material patterning, and small-scale fabrication technology.