Particle-assisted fabrication of honeycomb-structured hybrid films via breath figures method

Particle-assisted fabrication of honeycomb-structured hybrid films was carried out by employing particles as stabilizers in the breath figures (BF) method. Such a procedure tested the possibility of the combination of Pickering emulsions and breath figures, which are two classical self-assembly processes. Regularly patterned porous polystyrene film with particles decorating the inside walls of the open pores can be readily prepared. Silica particles were used as a model candidate to study the influence of both physical and chemical factors, including size, wettability, and application quantity, of the particles on BF pattern formation. Different assembling characteristics of the particles under different circumstances are also discussed. To further extend the application of such particle-assisted, bottom-up surface patterning technique to other kinds of particles, polystyrene particles and poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-co-acrylic acid microgels were employed to serve as stabilizers in BF method. As expected, all three kinds of particles, including solid inorganic, solid polymeric and microgel ones, succeeded in assisting in the formation of BF arrays in polymer films. The introduction of Pickering-emulsion effect into BF method can provide new possibilities to develop particle-functionalized porous surface.