Issue 25, 2014

Evaporation-induced formation of self-organized gradient concentric rings on sub-micron pre-cast PMMA films

Abstract

A “particle-on-film” template is developed to fabricate self-organized surface patterns through solvent evaporation on initially featureless, sub-micron PMMA films. The small particle placed on the pre-cast PMMA film is able to confine a toluene droplet and influence the evaporative process. Well-ordered gradient concentric rings are formed around the particle due to the unconventional “advancing–receding” motion of the contact line in the “stick” state on the surface of the PMMA films. Both the center-to-center distance between adjacent rings (wavelength) and the height of the rings (amplitude) are strongly dependent on the particle size and the film thickness, and decrease with the decrease of the distance to the center of the particle. A linear dependence of the amplitude of the rings on the wavelength is observed under experimental conditions. The results demonstrate that the “particle-on-film” template has the potential to fabricate highly-ordered surface patterns economically and efficiently.

Graphical abstract: Evaporation-induced formation of self-organized gradient concentric rings on sub-micron pre-cast PMMA films

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
31 Jan 2014
Accepted
27 Mar 2014
First published
28 Mar 2014

Soft Matter, 2014,10, 4451-4457

Evaporation-induced formation of self-organized gradient concentric rings on sub-micron pre-cast PMMA films

W. Sun and F. Yang, Soft Matter, 2014, 10, 4451 DOI: 10.1039/C4SM00245H

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements