Phase-separated binary polymers spin coated onto microwrinkles

Abstract

We report the fabrication of topographically guided phase-separated structures of a binary polymer mixture of polystyrene (PS) and poly(2-vinylpyridine) (PVP) spin coated onto sinusoidal microgrooves. Depending on the polymer concentration, dewetted PS islands or uniform PS ribbons were formed in the microgrooves, which were supported by an underlayer of PVP. Uniform PS ribbons were not obtained by sequential coating of the polymers. Tuning the polymer concentration with an appropriate solvent and substrate topography makes this method of spin coating onto microwrinkles a simple, low-cost method for fabricating various topography-guided polymer morphologies.