Fig. 1: Capillary-gradient manipulation for the fabrication of ordered curvilinear polymer microstructures.
From: Wafer-scale integration of stretchable semiconducting polymer microstructures via capillary gradient
a Schematic illustrations of dewetting and assembling processes of curvilinear polymer microstructures using a capillary-gradient assembly method. b Corresponding cross-sectional view schemes of (a). c Liquid trapping in microreservoirs as functions of arc radius R, arc angle θ, and minimum gap distance G of micropillars. The symbols of blue dots and green squares represent successful and unsuccessful trapping of liquid, respectively. The solid lines highlight the calculated threshold gap distances (see details in Supplementary Note 3). d, e Simulations and fluorescence microscope images of the liquid trapping in inner arc edge of the micropillar with central arc angle θ of 90o, 180o, and 270o. f Representative SEM image of large-area curvilinear polymer microstructure arrays with θ = 270o. g AFM topography and height diagram of a curvilinear P3HT microstructure with θ = 270o. h GIWAXS pattern of curvilinear P3HT microstructure arrays with the central arc angle θ = 270o, indicating the edge-on stacking of polymer chains. Scale bars: e 10 μm, f 100 μm, g 10 μm.
