Self-assembled treelike patterns from an evaporating binary solution.
Spontaneous formation of treelike patterns which developed during evaporation of the solvent from a phase-separated bilayer resulting from a binary polymer solution spin-coated onto a solid substrate has been studied. The initial bilayer consists of a poly(isobutyl methacrylate) (BMA) layer on top of a nitrocellulose (NC) solution layer. During evaporation, the top BMA layer becomes unstable and transforms into short ridges. Finally, the inhomogeneous evaporation of the solvent from the NC solution layer connects the BMA ridges to treelike patterns. To support our model, we present results of a complementary experiment based on casting of the BMA solution on an inclined glass substrate.
Govor
Leonid V
LV
Institute of Physics, University of Oldenburg, D-26111 Oldenburg, Germany. leonid.govor@uni-oldenburg.de
Reiter
Günter
G
Bauer
Gottfried H
GH
Parisi
Jürgen
J