Breath-figure self-assembly

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Schematic (bottom) and electron micrographs (top) of the growth of a honeycomb polystyrene film by breath-figure self-assembly.
SEM images of varied patterns created through an adapted breath figure approach.[1]
A water filter membrane prepared by breath-figure self-assembly, viewed at different synthesis steps and magnifications. The membrane material is a mixture of poly(phenylene oxide) and silica nanoparticles.

Breath-figure self-assembly is the self-assembly process of the formation of honeycomb micro-scaled polymer patterns by the condensation of water droplets. "Breath-figure" refers to the fog that forms when water vapor contacts a cold surface.[1][2][3] In the modern era systematic study of the process of breath-figures water condensation was carried out by Aitken[4][5] and Rayleigh,[6][7] among others. Half a century later the interest in the breath-figure formation was revived in a view of study of atmospheric processes, and in particular the extended study of a dew formation which turned out to be a complicated physical process. The experimental and theoretical study of dew formation has been carried out by Beysens.[8][9][10] Thermodynamic and kinetic aspects of dew formation, which are crucial for understanding of formation of breath-figures inspired polymer patterns will be addressed further in detail.

Breakthrough in the application of the breath-figures patterns was achieved in 1994–1995 when Widawski, François and Pitois reported manufacturing of polymer films with a self-organized, micro-scaled, honeycomb morphology using the breath-figures condensation process.[11][12] The reported process was based on the rapidly evaporated polymer solutions exerted to humidity.[13][14][15] The introduction to experimental techniques involved in manufacturing of micropatterned surfaces is supplied in reference 1; image representing typical breath-figures-inspired honeycomb pattern is shown in Figure 1.

The main physical processes involved in the process are: 1)

spin-coating.[2][15] Adapted techniques to achieve varied pattern morphologies and hierarchical designs have also been developed.[17] The characteristic dimension of pores is usually close to 1 μm, whereas the characteristic lateral dimension of the large-scale patterns is ca. 10–50 μm.[2]

See also

References

  1. S2CID 221372777
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    doi:10.1080/14686996.2018.1528478. Open access icon
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  6. doi:10.1038/086416d0
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  7. doi:10.1038/090436c0
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  8. doi:10.1080/01411599108206932
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  9. doi:10.1016/0169-8095(95)00015-j
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  10. doi:10.1016/j.crhy.2006.10.020
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  11. S2CID 4349235
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  12. doi:10.1002/adma.19950071217
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    S2CID 97676449
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  14. hdl:10261/98768
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    PMID 28813026
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  16. ^
    S2CID 17807475
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  17. PMID 36987660
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