Breath Figure Arrays: Unconventional Fabrications, Functionalizations, and Applications. Issue 47 (2nd October 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bai, Hua; Du, Can; Zhang, Aijuan; Li, Lei
• Is Part Of: Angewandte Chemie international edition. Volume 52:Issue 47(2013)
• Page Start: 12240
• Page End: 12255
• Publication Date: 2013-10-02
• Subjects: Chemistry -- Periodicals; 540
• DOI: 10.1002/anie.201303594
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1433-7851

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" xml:lang="en"> <title>Abstract</title> <p>A breath figure (BF) is the water droplet array that forms when moisture comes in contact with a cold substrate. This water droplet array has been widely utilized in the past two decades as a versatile soft template for the fabrication of polymeric porous films. Accordingly, the ordered pores on the polymer films formed with such a method are named a breath figure array (BFA).The BF templating technique is undergoing rapid development. Several unconventional BF processes have been established to prepare porous films with unique morphologies or primary materials, and various newly developed functionalization techniques have significantly improved the performance of polymeric films with BFA, leading to novel applications, including templates, biosensors, and separation membranes. These recent achievements will be described in this Minireview.</p> </abstract>