Disentanglement time of polymers determines the onset of rim instabilities in dewetting

Unraveling the molecular conformations of a single ruthenium complex adsorbed on the Ag(111) surface by calculations

The tris(dibenzoylmethanato)ruthenium (Ru(dbm)3) molecule has recently been characterized by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) experiments upon adsorption on Ag(111). The adsorbed Ru(dbm)3 molecule shows two conformations with respect to the [11[combining macron]0] direction of the substrate, one with a three-lobed feature and the other one with a bi-lobed structure. For each of these structures, the molecule can take two geometries (states). Molecular mechanics calculations in a semi-empirical framework and STM calculated images reveal that these states on the substrate originate from the enantiomer of the Ru(dbm)3 molecule in the case of three-lobed structure and from the rotation of the two phenyls in the top dbm moities for the bi-lobed form.

Thin viscoelastic dewetting films of Jeffreys type subjected to gravity and substrate interactions

This work presents a study of the interfacial dynamics of thin viscoelastic films subjected to the gravitational force and substrate interactions induced by the disjoining pressure, in two spatial dimensions. The governing equation is derived as a long-wave approximation of the Navier-Stokes equations for incompressible viscoelastic liquids under the effect of gravity, with the Jeffreys model for viscoelastic stresses. For the particular cases of horizontal or inverted planes, the linear stability analysis is performed to investigate the influence of the physical parameters involved on the growth rate and length scales of instabilities. Numerical simulations of the nonlinear regime of the dewetting process are presented for the particular case of an inverted plane. Both gravity and the disjoining pressure are found to affect not only the length scale of instabilities, but also the final configuration of dewetting, by favoring the formation of satellite droplets, that are suppressed by the slippage with the solid substrate.

Liquid dewetting under a thin elastic film

We study the dewetting of liquid films capped by a thin elastomeric layer. When the tension in the elastomer is isotropic, circular holes grow at a rate which decreases with increasing tension. The morphology of holes and rim stability can be controlled by changing the boundary conditions and tension in the capping film. When the capping film is prepared with a biaxial tension, holes form with a non-circular shape elongated along the high tension axis. With suitable choice of elastic boundary conditions, samples can even be designed such that square holes appear.

Influence of physical ageing on rim instability during solvent-induced dewetting of a thin polymer film

Combining experiments with molecular dynamic simulation to examine the influence of physical ageing on rim instability during solvent-induced dewetting.

Instability, self-organization and pattern formation in thin soft films

The free surface of a thin soft polymer film is often found to become unstable and self-organizes into various meso-scale structures. In this article we classify the instability of a thin polymer film into three broad categories, which are: category 1: instability of an ultra-thin (<100 nm) viscous film engendered by amplification of thermally excited surface capillary waves due to interfacial dispersive van der Waals forces; category 2: instability arising from the attractive inter-surface interactions between the free surface of a soft film exhibiting room temperature elasticity and another rigid surface in its contact proximity; and category 3: instability caused by an externally applied field such as an electric field or a thermal gradient, observed in both viscous and elastic films. We review the salient features of each instability class and highlight how characteristic length scales, feature morphologies, evolution pathways, etc. depend on initial properties such as film thickness, visco-elasticity (rheology), residual stress, and film preparation conditions. We emphasize various possible strategies for aligning and ordering of the otherwise isotropic structures by combining the essential concepts of bottom-up and top-down approaches. A perspective, including a possible future direction of research, novelty and limitations of the methods, particularly in comparison to the existing patterning techniques, is also presented for each setting.

Unusual dewetting of thin polymer films in liquid media containing a poor solvent and a nonsolvent

We investigate the control of pattern size and kinetics in spontaneous dewetting of thin polymer films (polystyrene) that are stable to thermal annealing by annealing in a poor solvent (acetone)/nonsolvent (ethanol or n-hexane) liquid mixture. Dewetting occurs by the formation and growth of circular holes that coalesce to form droplets. The influence of the nature and the volume fraction of the nonsolvents on the contact angle of polymer droplets, number density of holes, and the kinetics of holes formation and growth is studied. Addition of ethanol greatly increases the hole density and slows down the kinetics substantially, while affecting only a small change in wettability. n-Hexane addition shows an interesting nonmonotonic response in decreasing the hole density and contact angle in the volume fraction range of 0-0.3 but an opposite effect beyond that. Although the two nonsolvents chosen cannot by themselves induce dewetting, their relative affinity for the solid substrate vis-à-vis acetone can strongly influence the observed dewetting scenarios that are not understood by the existing theoretical considerations. n-Hexane, for example, has great affinity for silicon substrate. In addition to the changes in wettability, viscosity, and film interfacial tension engendered by the nonsolvents, the possibility of the formation of adsorbed liquid layers at the substrate-polymer interface, which can modify the interfacial friction and slippage, needs to be considered.

Influence of slip on the Rayleigh-Plateau rim instability in dewetting viscous films

A dewetting viscous film develops a characteristic fluid rim at its receding edge due to mass conservation. In the course of the dewetting process, the rim becomes unstable via an instability of Rayleigh-Plateau type. An important difference exists between this classic instability of a liquid column and the rim instability in a thin film as the growth of the rim is continuously fueled by the receding film. We explain how the development and macroscopic morphology of the rim instability are controlled by the slip of the film on the substrate. A single thin-film model captures quantitatively the characteristics of the complete evolution of the rim observed in the experiments.

Lithographic Tuning of Polymeric Thin Film Surfaces by Stress Relaxation

We report a facile soft lithography (SL) technique that allows fabrication of patterned polymeric surfaces with feature height varying between 0 and h₀, using a single stamp. The method relies on the partial relaxation of the applied stress in a viscoelastic polymer thin film imprinted under a transient external load using a flexible stamp. The applicability of the technique is demonstrated for thermosetting (rubbery) as well as thermoplastic (glassy) polymers over a wide range of lateral dimensions. The lateral dimension and the periodicity of imprinted patterns remain identical to that of the original stamp. The method has potential applications in creating templates for performing combinatorial experiments related to wetting and dewetting studies, adhesion, nanotribology, microfluidics, etc.

Kinetically driven self-assembly of a binary solute mixture with controlled phase separation via electro-hydrodynamic flow of corona discharge

This feature article describes a new and facile process to fabricate a variety of thin films of non-volatile binary solute mixtures suitable for high performance organic electronic devices via electro-hydrodynamic flow of conventional corona discharge. Both Corona Discharge Coating (CDC) and a modified version of CDC, Scanning Corona Discharge Coating (SCDC), are based on utilizing directional electric flow, known as corona wind, of the charged uni-polar particles generated by corona discharge between a metallic needle and a bottom plate under a high electric field (5-10 kV cm(-1)). The electric flow rapidly spreads out the binary mixture solution on the bottom plate and subsequently forms a smooth and flat thin film in a large area within a few seconds. In the case of SCDC, the static movement of the bottom electrode on which a binary mixture solution is placed provides further control of thin film formation, giving rise to a film highly uniform over a large area. Interesting phase separation behaviors were observed including nanometer scale phase separation of a polymer-polymer binary mixture and vertical phase separation of a polymer-organic semiconductor mixture. Core-shell type phase separation of either polymer-polymer or polymer-colloidal nanoparticle binary mixtures was also developed with a periodically patterned microstructure when the relative location of the corona wind was controlled to a binary solution droplet on a substrate. We also demonstrate potential applications of thin functional films with controlled microstructures by corona coating to various organic electronic devices such as electroluminescent diodes, field effect transistors and non-volatile polymer memories.

Effect of film thickness on morphological evolution in dewetting and crystallization of polystyrene/poly(ε-caprolactone) blend films

In this Article, the morphological evolution in the blend thin film of polystyrene (PS)/poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) was investigated via mainly AFM. It was found that an enriched two-layer structure with PS at the upper layer and PCL at the bottom layer was formed during spinning coating. By changing the solution concentration, different kinds of crystal morphologies, such as finger-like, dendritic, and spherulitic-like, could be obtained at the bottom PCL layer. These different initial states led to the morphological evolution processes to be quite different from each other, so the phase separation, dewetting, and crystalline morphology of PS/PCL blend films as a function of time were studied. It was interesting to find that the morphological evolution of PS at the upper layer was largely dependent on the film thickness. For the ultrathin (15 nm) blend film, a liquid-solid/liquid-liquid dewetting-wetting process was observed, forming ribbons that rupture into discrete circular PS islands on voronoi finger-like PCL crystal. For the thick (30 nm) blend film, the liquid-liquid dewetting of the upper PS layer from the underlying adsorbed PCL layer was found, forming interconnected rim structures that rupture into discrete circular PS islands embedded in the single lamellar PCL dendritic crystal due to Rayleigh instability. For the thicker (60 nm) blend film, a two-step liquid-liquid dewetting process with regular holes decorated with dendritic PCL crystal at early annealing stage and small holes decorated with spherulite-like PCL crystal among the early dewetting holes at later annealing stage was observed. The mechanism of this unusual morphological evolution process was discussed on the basis of the entropy effect and annealing-induced phase separation.

Impact of slippage on the morphology and stability of a dewetting rim

In this study lubrication theory is used to describe the stability and morphology of the rim that forms as a thin polymer film dewets from a hydrophobized silicon wafer. Thin film equations are derived from the governing hydrodynamic equations for the polymer to enable the systematic mathematical and numerical analysis of the properties of the solutions for different regimes of slippage and for a range of timescales. Dewetting rates and the cross sectional profiles of the evolving rims are derived for these models and compared to experimental results. Experiments also show that the rim is typically unstable in the spanwise direction and develops thicker and thinner parts that may grow into 'fingers'. Linear stability analysis as well as nonlinear numerical solutions are presented to investigate shape and growth rate of the rim instability. It is demonstrated that the difference in morphology and the rate at which the instability develops can be directly attributed to the magnitude of slippage. Finally, a derivation is given for the dominant wavelength of the bulges along the unstable rim.

Slip effects in polymer thin films

Probing the fluid dynamics of thin films is an excellent tool for studying the solid/liquid boundary condition. There is no need for external stimulation or pumping of the liquid, due to the fact that the dewetting process, an internal mechanism, acts as a driving force for liquid flow. Viscous dissipation, within the liquid, and slippage balance interfacial forces. Thus, friction at the solid/liquid interface plays a key role towards the flow dynamics of the liquid. Probing the temporal and spatial evolution of growing holes or retracting straight fronts gives, in combination with theoretical models, information on the liquid flow field and, especially, the boundary condition at the interface. We review the basic models and experimental results obtained during the last several years with exclusive regard to polymers as ideal model liquids for fluid flow. Moreover, concepts that aim to explain slippage on the molecular scale are summarized and discussed.

Nonequilibrium polymer rheology in spin-cast films

A new experimental approach is introduced to probe the rheology of >or=100 nm-thick liquid polymer films. As-cast films were found to have a substantially reduced effective viscosity compared to annealed films. The reduced viscosity is explained in terms of nonequilibrium chain conformations giving rise to a reduced entanglement density caused by the rapid quenching of the film during spin coating. Unexpectedly long annealing times at high temperatures are required for the films to recover their bulk rheology.

Dewetting of polymer films by ion implantation

We report dewetting of thermodynamically stable, thick (approximately 100 nm) polystyrene films by titanium ion implantation. The dynamic dewetting patterns in time evolution are recorded. The dewetting mechanism is determined to be heterogeneous nucleation, where the defects and Ti nanoparticles formed by ion implantation serve as the nuclei. In addition, we observe abundant rims with regular polygonal shapes in dewetting patterns. This is attributed to fingering instability, which results from the balance between the driving force arisen from thermally induced surface tension gradient and the resistive forces from the combination of friction force, Laplace pressure and long-range van der Waals interactions. Finally, a model based on mass conservation is used to qualitatively describe the transition from circular to polygonal shaped rims at a critical diameter for holes.

Viscoelastic thin polymer films under transient residual stresses: two-stage dewetting on soft substrates

A nonmonotonic, two-stage dewetting behavior was observed for spin coated thin viscoelastic polymer films on soft elastic substrates. At times shorter than the relaxation time of the polymer (t<tau_{rep}), dewetting generated deep trenches in the soft rubbery substrate which, in turn, almost stopped dewetting. At later stages (t>>tau_{rep}), dewetting accelerated, accompanied by an unstable rim. However, holes nucleated at t<tau_{rep} showed only this second-stage behavior. Our observations are attributed to large elastic deformations in the substrate caused by transient residual stresses within the film.

Nonsolvent-induced dewetting of thin polymer films

The process of nonsolvent-induced dewetting of thin polystyrene (PS) films on hydrophilic surfaces at room temperature has been studied by using water as a nonsolvent. It is observed that the process of nonsolvent-induced dewetting is greatly different from other previous dewetting processes. The PS film is found in nonviscous state in our study. A mechanism of nonsolvent-induced dewetting is deduced in an order of penetration, replacement, and coalescent, and it is different from other previous dewetting mechanisms. The results of experiments are analyzed from thermodynamics and dynamics to support the hypothetical mechanism.