Evaporative Organization of Hierarchically Structured Polymer Blend Rings

POSTER

Abstract

We report the first study of the controlled, evaporative self-organization of a polymer blend from a sphere-on-flat geometry. In this study, a drop of polystyrene (PS) and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) toluene solution evaporated in the sphere-on-flat geometry. The combination of controlled, consecutive pinning-depinning cycles (i.e., ``stick-slip'') of the contact line at the edge of the geometry, spontaneous phase separation of incompatible polymers at the microscopic scale, and a dewetting process in the late stage of phase segregation led to the formation of gradient, hierarchically structured polymer blend rings composed of phase-separated PS and PMMA. This facile approach offers a new way of simultaneously processing two or more nonvolatile components via controlled evaporation to produce new kinds of structures with hierarchical order in a simple, robust, and one-step manner.

*We acknowledge the supports from NSF (CBET-0730611), 3M, and the Key Laboratory of Molecular Engineering of Polymers at Fudan University, Ministry of Education, China

Authors

  • Myunghwan Byun

    • Iowa State University

  • Suck Won Hong

    • Iowa State University

  • Feng Qiu

    • The Key Laboratory of Molecular Engineering of Polymers at Fudan University, Shanghai, China, 200433
    • The Key Laboratory of Molecular Engineering of Polymers at Fudan University, Shanghai, China
    • Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China

  • Zhiqun Lin

    • Iowa State University