Breath-figure self-assembly explained

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] In the modern era systematic study of the process of breath-figures water condensation was carried out by Aitken[3] [4] and Rayleigh,[5] [6] 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.[7] [8] [9] 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.[10] [11] The reported process was based on the rapidly evaporated polymer solutions exerted to humidity.[12] [13] [14] 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) evaporation of the polymer solution; 2) nucleation of water droplets; 3) condensation of water droplets; 4) growth of droplets; 5) evaporation of water; 6) solidification of polymer giving rise to the eventual micro-porous pattern.[15] This experimental technique allows obtaining well-ordered, hierarchical, honeycomb surface patterns. A variety of experimental techniques were successfully exploited for the formation of breath-figures self-assembly induced patterns including drop-casting, dip-coating and spin-coating. Adapted techniques to achieve varied pattern morphologies and hierarchical designs have also been developed.[16] 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.[17]

See also

References

  1. Book: Rodríguez-Hernández. Juan. Breath Figures: Mechanisms of Multi-scale Patterning and Strategies for Fabrication and Applications of Microstructured Functional Porous Surfaces. Bormashenko. Edward. 2020. Springer International Publishing. 978-3-030-51135-7. Cham. en. 10.1007/978-3-030-51136-4. 221372777 .
  2. Zhang. Aijuan. Bai. Hua. Li. Lei. 2015. Breath Figure: A Nature-Inspired Preparation Method for Ordered Porous Films. Chemical Reviews. 115. 18. 9801–9868. 10.1021/acs.chemrev.5b00069. 26284609.
  3. Aitken. John. 1893. Breath Figures. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 20. 10.1017/S0370164600048434. 94–97.
  4. Aitken. John. 1911. Breath Figures. Nature. 86. 2172. 516–517. 10.1038/086516a0. 1911Natur..86..516A . 3984200 .
  5. Rayleigh. Lord. 1911. Breath Figures. Nature. 86. 2169. 416–417. 10.1038/086416d0. 1911Natur..86..416R . free.
  6. Rayleigh. Lord. 1912. Breath Figures.. Nature. 90. 2251. 436–438. 10.1038/090436c0. 1912Natur..90..436R . free.
  7. Beysens. D.. Steyer. A.. Guenoun. P.. Fritter. D.. Knobler. C. M.. 1991. How does dew form?. Phase Transitions. 31. 1–4. 219–246. 10.1080/01411599108206932. 1991PhaTr..31..219B .
  8. Beysens. D.. 1995. The formation of dew. Atmospheric Research. 39. 1–3. 215–237. 10.1016/0169-8095(95)00015-j. 1995AtmRe..39..215B .
  9. Beysens. Daniel. 2006. Dew nucleation and growth. Comptes Rendus Physique. 7. 9–10. 1082–1100. 10.1016/j.crhy.2006.10.020. 2006CRPhy...7.1082B .
  10. Widawski. Gilles. Rawiso. Michel. François. Bernard. 1994. Self-organized honeycomb morphology of star-polymer polystyrene films. Nature. 369. 6479. 387–389. 10.1038/369387a0. 1994Natur.369..387W . 4349235 .
  11. François. Bernard. Pitois. Olivier. François. Jeanne. 1995. Polymer films with a self-organized honeycomb morphology. Advanced Materials. 7. 12. 1041–1044. 10.1002/adma.19950071217. 1995AdM.....7.1041F .
  12. Bunz. U. H. F.. 2006. Breath Figures as a Dynamic Templating Method for Polymers and Nanomaterials. Advanced Materials. 18. 8. 973–989. 10.1002/adma.200501131. 2006AdM....18..973B . 97676449 .
  13. Muñoz-Bonilla. Alexandra. Fernández-García. Marta. Rodríguez-Hernández. Juan. 2014. Towards hierarchically ordered functional porous polymeric surfaces prepared by the breath figures approach. Progress in Polymer Science. 39. 3. 510–554. 10.1016/j.progpolymsci.2013.08.006. 10261/98768. free.
  14. Bormashenko. Edward. 2017. Breath-Figure Self-Assembly, a Versatile Method of Manufacturing Membranes and Porous Structures: Physical, Chemical and Technological Aspects. Membranes. 7. 3. 45. 10.3390/membranes7030045. 5618130. 28813026. free .
  15. Srinivasarao. Mohan. Collings. David. Philips. Alan. Patel. Sanjay. 2001. Three-Dimensionally Ordered Array of Air Bubbles in a Polymer Film. Science. 292. 5514. 79–83. 10.1126/science.1057887. 11292866. 2001Sci...292...79S . 17807475 .
  16. Dent . Francis J. . Harbottle . David . Warren . Nicholas J. . Khodaparast . Sepideh . 2023-04-12 . Exploiting breath figure reversibility for in situ pattern modulation and hierarchical design . Soft Matter . en . 19 . 15 . 2737–2744 . 10.1039/D2SM01650H . 36987660 . 10091834 . 1744-6848. free .
  17. 10.1080/14686996.2018.1528478. Fabrication of honeycomb films by the breath figure technique and their applications. Science and Technology of Advanced Materials. 19. 802–822. 2018. Yabu. Hiroshi. 1 . 2018STAdM..19..802Y . free.

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