Adjustable supramolecular polymer microstructures fabricated by the breath figure method

Abstract

Highly ordered supramolecular polymer honeycomb-patterned films were fabricated successfully via the static breath figure method. The supramolecular polymer that was used to prepare these intriguing films was obtained from the self-organization of a heteroditopic monomer based on the benzo-21-crown-7/secondary ammonium salt recognition motif. The morphologies of these microstructures were observed by scanning electron microscopy, optical microscopy and atomic force microscopy techniques. The monomer concentration plays an important role in the fabrication of these supramolecular polymer microstructures. The pore size of honeycomb-patterned films decreases with the increase of the monomer concentration from 4 wt% to 30 wt%. A microsphere (900 nm) pattern and a highly-ordered honeycomb-patterned film (2.0 μm) were obtained via the static breath figure method using acetonitrile as the solvent at concentrations of 2 wt% and 30 wt%, respectively.