Evaporation-Driven Nanowire Self-Assembly in an Elongated Droplet

Abstract

Drying of nanowire-laden elongated droplets is a ubiquitous process in printed electronics fabrication, where the resulting deposition pattern critically determines device performance by controlling nanowire alignment, connectivity, and percolating charge-transport pathways. However, the physical understanding of evaporation-driven deposition is still largely derived from studies of spherical droplets on homogeneous substrates. This gap limits the ability to predict and control deposit morphology in realistic printing scenarios. Here, we use mesoscale lattice Boltzmann simulations to investigate the drying of nanowire-laden elongated droplets on wettability-patterned substrates, focusing on the effects of droplet geometry, nanowire interactions, and nanowire length. The elongated droplet geometry is found to intrinsically induce distinct axial and transverse inhomogeneities in the final deposit. Increasing the effective attraction between nanowires, which mimics changes in surface chemistry or solvent conditions, can improve electrical connectivity but also promotes clustering and local ordering, reducing structural uniformity. In contrast, increasing nanowire length yields a dual benefit by improving long-range connectivity while simultaneously enhancing deposit homogeneity. Our findings provide design guidance for balancing electrical transport and structural uniformity in evaporation-driven printed electronics.