Patterning in rapidly evaporated polymer solutions: formation of annular structures under evaporation of the poor solvent

Edward Bormashenko; Roman Pogreb; Albina Musin; Oleg Stanevsky; Yelena Bormashenko; Gene Whyman; Zahava Barkay

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2006.03.064

Patterning in rapidly evaporated polymer solutions: formation of annular structures under evaporation of the poor solvent

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2006 Aug 1;300(1):293-7. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2006.03.064. Epub 2006 Apr 3.

Authors

Edward Bormashenko¹, Roman Pogreb, Albina Musin, Oleg Stanevsky, Yelena Bormashenko, Gene Whyman, Zahava Barkay

Affiliation

¹ The Research Institute, The College of Judea and Samaria, 44837 Ariel, Israel. edward@yosh.ac.il

PMID: 16626728
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2006.03.064

Abstract

Patterning in the intensively evaporated polymer solutions based on polystyrene and poor solvent (acetone) was investigated. SEM and AFM studies demonstrated that annular elements of the surface topography are formed in this case, in contrast to the honeycomb patterns obtained under the evaporation of the good solvent (chloroform). The authors suggest that the theory of viscous dewetting developed by de Gennes explains the phenomenon satisfactorily.