title: Formation of regularly spaced wetting ridges at 1 μm intervals on the surface of a liquid-crystalline polymer.
abstract: A liquid-crystalline (LC) polymer melt coating a glass support shows a remarkable wetting ridge pattern resulting from a "stick-and-break" phenomenon when submerged into water at a velocity of 20 cm/s. A series of parallel, regularly spaced wetting ridges of 0.2 μm height are formed perpendicular to the advancing direction of the plate at 1 μm intervals, and the pattern continues over a wide area (1 × 2 cm(2)). The ridges function as a narrow line diffraction grating, similar to a prism that separates white light into the spectrum of colors. This process provides new insight into the controlled nanofabrication of polymers that is low-cost and high-throughput.
authors.affiliation: Department of Organic and Polymeric Materials, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1 Ookayama, Tokyo 152-8552, Japan.
authors.forename: Shu-hei
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Okuda
authors.forename: Shu-suke
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Yoshihara
authors.forename: Sungmin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Masatoshi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tokita
authors.forename: Junji
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Watanabe
mesh_terms: D010316:Particle Size; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D013499:Surface Properties; D017155:Wettability
chemical_list: D011108:Polymers; C422409:liquid crystal polymer