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Suppressing Instability of Liquid Thin Films by a Fibril Network and its Application to Micropatterning without a Residual Layer
Author(s) -
Park Jaeyoon,
Park Minwoo,
Jeong Unyong
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
macromolecular rapid communications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.348
H-Index - 154
eISSN - 1521-3927
pISSN - 1022-1336
DOI - 10.1002/marc.201300787
Subject(s) - micropatterning , layer (electronics) , fibril , materials science , residual , layer by layer , thin film , instability , nanotechnology , composite material , chemistry , computer science , physics , mechanics , biochemistry , algorithm
This study proposes a method to coat thin films of non‐volatile solvents on substrates. A small amount of crystalline polymer dissolved in solvents forms a network of crystalline fibrils during the coating process. The network suppresses dewetting of the solvent liquid and helps the liquid film sustaining on the substrate. This strategy can be used in soft lithography to generate micropatterns of diverse materials without having a residual layer. This process does not request etching for achieving residual layer‐free micropatterns, which has been a long challenge in soft lithography. As examples, we demonstrate micropatterns of polymer hydrogels and metal oxides (ZnO, In 2 O 3