Holey Polymer Films Templated by Self-Assembled Arrays of Non-Coalescent Water Drops

Self-assembled, ordered arrays of water drops form on evaporating polymer solutions exposed to a stream of humid air. The pattern formation involves nucleation, growth and self-assembly of water drops that are non-coalescent. These ordered arrays of nearly monodisperse drops, eventually evaporate away, leaving a microstructured, porous polymer film. We elucidate the mechanism of this breath-figure-templated assembly, by accounting for various transport and thermodynamic processes that control the dynamics of drop nucleation, growth, noncoalescence and self-assembly. The theoretical framework developed in this study allows us to rationalize and predict the structure and size of pores.