Fabrication of morphology-controlled nano/microstructural polyfluorene in mixed nonsolvent vapor atmospheres

Investigation of Orderliness of Breath Figures on Polydimethylsiloxane

Breath figures, the self-assembled water droplet patterns formed on cold surfaces, are ideally hexagonal. A deviation from the ideal honeycomb pattern can occur due to variation of roughness of the substrate, change in vapor from water to other liquids, etc. The thermodynamics of breath figure formation is complex, and any deviation from ideality is even more difficult to understand. In the absence of a unified theory to understand such patterns and experimental difficulties in monitoring all aspects of formation of breath figures, the patterns formed are studied in terms of their orderliness by determining their Voronoi entropy. We report here the Voronoi entropy calculations of the breath figure fabricated over the smooth and constrained surfaces using polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) of molecular weight 235 g/mol in two different environments: (a) water and (b) binary mixture of ethanol-propanol over the entire concentration range. Ordered honeycomb patterns are seen on the smooth surfaces, and disordered patterns are seen on constrained surfaces when imaged using confocal microscopy. The latter is attributed to the depinning of the triple-phase contact line, implying that the underlying constraints influence the pore morphology. Contact angle studies of water over the breath figure patterned surfaces indicate the hydrophobic nature of the patterned surfaces.

Three-Dimensional Conformal Porous Microstructural Engineering of Textile Substrates with Customized Functions of Brick Materials and Inherent Advantages of Textiles

The conventional use of textiles as substrates for the incorporation of brick materials (i.e., polymers and nanomaterials) is ubiquitously developed with primary purposes for introducing desired technical/functional performance rather than maintaining the aesthetic/decorative characteristics and inherent advantages (i.e., flexibility and permeability) of textiles. Such kinds of modified textiles with typical solid coating layers, however, are becoming more and more unsuitable for some emerging applications, such as smart wearable devices. Herein, we presented a brand-new kind of modified textiles with brick materials formed contouring to the nonplanar fiber surfaces of a fabric substrate as a three-dimensional (3D) conformal layer of porous microstructures by a unique breath figure self-assembling strategy of employing water microdroplet arrays as soft dynamic templates that can be controlled, formed, and removed spontaneously. In this paper, the main influential factors such as solution concentration, relative humidity, temperature, brick materials, and fabric substrates were studied systematically to control and adjust the formation of 3D conformal porous microstructures (3CPMs). The obtained 3D conformal porous microstructured textiles (3CPMTs) hierarchically combining the inherent texture features of the porous network of textiles and honeycomb porous microstructures templated from water microdroplet arrays not only possess new functions of introduced brick materials (such as triboelectric performance and wettability) and maintain the excellent inherent advantages (such as flexibility, air permeability, water vapor permeability, and unique texture features) of fabrics but also enhance the tensile strength and thermal insulation performance of substrates. Taking advantage of the introduced functions, they can be either used for conventional applications (i.e., oil/water separation) with enhanced performance or explored for new applications (i.e., self-powered sensors with textile breathability and comfort) with truly wearable potential. We believe this efficient, robust, and versatile strategy opens up numerous possibilities for designing and developing a broad range of advanced multifunctional textiles upon end uses.

Controlling breath figure patterns on PDMS by concentration variation of ethanol-methanol binary vapors

In this paper, the self-assembly of condensed droplets on smooth and constrained surfaces under saturated vapor atmosphere of ethanol and methanol binary system is reported. Hexagonally ordered array of pores are obtained on smooth surfaces with saturated vapors of binary liquids without the assistance of any additives. The results show that the addition of a small amount of ethanol to methanol plays a role very similar to that of surface active agents in inducing the formation of a regular droplet array. The effect of constraints on a self-assembled droplet pattern such as the movement of the contact line and the depinning of the contact line is also investigated. It is observed that the pore size, pore shape, pore depth and ring diameter are influenced by the atmosphere of binary vapors in addition to the commonly held attribution to the surface tension of the solvent. Contact angle studies of the patterned substrates show hydrophobicity with high adhesiveness and transitions between the Wenzel and Cassie impregnating state over the entire concentration region.

Unraveling the stress effects on the optical properties of stretchable rod-coil polyfluorene-poly(n-butyl acrylate) block copolymer thin films

Novel deformable and fluorescent PF-b-PBA copolymers with nanofibrillar structures were synthesized for unraveling strain-dependent optical properties.

Binary breath figures for straightforward and controllable self-assembly of microspherical caps

The intense interest surrounding asymmetrical microparticles originates from their unique anisotropic properties and promising applications. In this work, direct self-assembly of polymeric microspherical caps without the assistance of any additives has been achieved by using low-surface-tension methanol (MeOH) and high-surface-tension water as binary breath figures (BFs). With the evaporation of polystyrene (PS) solution containing low-boiling-point solvent in the binary vapors, the formed MeOH BFs could quickly diffuse into solution, while water BFs tended to remain at the solution surface. This led to the formation of a gradient nonsolvent layer at the vapor/solution interface, which induced the formation of nuclei and guided further asymmetrical growth of polymer particles. After the spontaneous removal of MeOH, water and residual solvent by evaporation, polymeric microspherical caps were left on the substrate. Through controlling the proportion of water introduced by adjusting the ratios of MeOH and water, polymeric microspherical caps with a range of controllable shapes (divided at different positions of a sphere) were successfully obtained. The formation mechanism was explained based on the difference of vapor pressure, surface tension and miscibility between the employed solvents and nonsolvents. A solvent possessing a high vapor pressure, low surface tension and good miscibility with MeOH contributed to the formation of microspherical caps. This flexible, green and straightforward technique is a nondestructive strategy, and avoids complicated work on design, preparation and removal of hard templates and additives.