Liquid-Infused Porous Film Self-Assembly for Superior Light-Transmitting and Anti-Adhesion

Micromachines (Basel). 2022 Mar 30;13(4):540. doi: 10.3390/mi13040540.

Abstract

Liquid-Infused Surfaces (LISs), particularly known for their liquid-repelling feature, have demonstrated plenty of applications in the medical, marine, and energy fields. To improve the durability and transparency highly demanded on glass-based vision devices such as an endoscope, this study proposed a novel self-assembly method to fabricate well-ordered porous Poly-Styrene (PS)/Styrene-Butadiene-Styrene (SBS) films by simply dripping the PS/SBS dichloromethane solutions onto the glass before spinning. The effects of the solutions' concentrations and spin speeds on the porous structure were experimentally investigated. The results showed that a certain mass ratio of PS/SBS can make the structure of the ordered porous film more regular and denser under the optimal solution concentration and spin-coating speed. Superior transparency and durability were also realized by dripping silicone oil on the porous film to build a liquid-infused surface. Applications of the as-prepared surface on devices like endoscopes, viewfinders, and goggles have been explored respectively.

Keywords: anti-adhesion; improved durability; light-transmitting; liquid-infused surface; self-assembly; well-ordered porous film.