title: Controlling the Localization of Liquid Droplets in Polymer Matrices by Evaporative Lithography.
abstract: Localized inclusions of liquids provide solid materials with many functions, such as self-healing, secretion, and tunable mechanical properties, in a spatially controlled mode. However, a strategy to control the distribution of liquid droplets in solid matrices directly obtained from a homogeneous solution has not been reported thus far. Herein, we describe an approach to selectively localize liquid droplets in a supramolecular gel directly obtained from its solution by using evaporative lithography. In this process, the formation of droplet-embedded domains occurs in regions of free evaporation where the non-volatile liquid is concentrated and undergoes a phase separation to create liquid droplets prior to gelation, while a homogeneous gel matrix is formed in the regions of hindered evaporation. The different regions of a coating with droplet embedment patterns display different secretion abilities, enabling the control of the directional movement of water droplets.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Fundamental and Frontier Sciences, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, No. 4, Section 2, North Jianshe Road, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.|INM-Leibniz Institute for New Materials, Campus D2 2, 66123, Saarbrücken, Germany.
authors.forename: Huaixia
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: INM-Leibniz Institute for New Materials, Campus D2 2, 66123, Saarbrücken, Germany.
authors.forename: Jiajia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: National Key Laboratory and Incubation Base of Photoelectric Technology and Functional Materials and School of Physics, Northwest University, 710069, China.|PMMH, CNRS-UMR 7636, ESPCI-ParisTech, 10 Rue Vauquelin, 75005, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Guangyin
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Jing
authors.affiliation: INM-Leibniz Institute for New Materials, Campus D2 2, 66123, Saarbrücken, Germany.
authors.forename: Lizbeth Ofelia
authors.initials: LO
authors.lastname: Prieto-López
authors.affiliation: Institute of Fundamental and Frontier Sciences, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, No. 4, Section 2, North Jianshe Road, Chengdu, Sichuan, China. dengxu@uestc.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Xu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: Institute of Fundamental and Frontier Sciences, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, No. 4, Section 2, North Jianshe Road, Chengdu, Sichuan, China. jiaxi.cui@leibniz-inm.de.|INM-Leibniz Institute for New Materials, Campus D2 2, 66123, Saarbrücken, Germany. jiaxi.cui@leibniz-inm.de.
authors.forename: Jiaxi
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-2550-979X
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cui
keywords: dynamic materials; evaporative lithography; liquid droplets; polymer matrices; supramolecular gels