Our Research

Stamping is familiar from everyday office work: a simple, reliable way to replicate small patterns over large areas. In our group, we translate this intuitive concept into the micro- and nanoworld by developing microcontact printing (µCP) – a miniaturized printing process capable of transferring chemically defined features with micrometre precision.

Over the past three decades, microcontact printing has become a powerful tool in surface science. It has found different applications, e.g. patterning of proteins for cell guidance, the fabrication of biosensors, structuring microelectronic components, and the adjustment of surface properties such as wettability and adhesion. Despite these successes, the technique has largely remained confined to smooth, idealized substrates, while many technologically and biologically relevant surfaces are rough, porous, curved or soft.

Our goal is to extend microcontact printing to the low micro- and nanoscale, enabling well-defined chemical patterns on rough, capillary-active surfaces, diffuse (bio-) interfaces and colloidal particles. By combining chemistry with surface engineering, we seek to bring precise molecular control to the surface patterns.