Soft lithography fabrication of chitosan-based bioplastic diffraction gratings extracted from crab shell wastes

Abstract

Chitosan-based bioplastic diffraction gratings extracted from crab shell wastes are fabricated through a soft lithography replication process. Diffraction experiments with the chitosan grating replicas indicate the successful copying of periodic nanoscale groove structures with 600 and 1200 lines/mm. The first-order efficiency of bioplastic gratings and power efficiency is comparable to the output of elastomeric grating replicas. Distinct diffraction patterns are generated by the bioplastic replicas and are in good agreement with the grating equation for normal incidence. These results verify the viability of soft lithography for imprinting periodic nanoscale structures onto chitosan from seafood waste.