1D roughness driven depinning of breath figures on PDMS

Abstract

The influence of surface constraints on the self-assembly of liquid droplets is investigated. A semi-quantitative explanation for large scale pattern formation consisting of small scale closely arranged droplets inside the large scale distorted ring of droplets is presented in this paper. The scale at which the influence of constraints become dominant is also determined in this study. It is seen that the underlying roughness has a larger impact than the nature of polymer on pore size. Comparative studies of pore patterns formed on smooth and constrained substrates are reported. The simulated energy minimized shape of the droplets on smooth and constrained substrates are obtained using \textit{Surface Evolver}.