Polystyrene particles form an octagonal deposition pattern on a patterned substrate

What is it about?

Conventional sessile droplets appear in our daily life form circular contact on surfaces. In this research, we demonstrated a consistent method of creating an octagonal droplet with a micropyramid structure patterned substrate. The pinning force from the microstructure created an anisotropy spreading that resulted in the octagonal wetting profile. The research was carried a step forward by adding particles into the droplet. The particles within a suspension droplet were self-assembled into various deposition patterns as the droplet evaporates. The self-assembly mechanism of polystyrene microspherical particles was further investigated to identify the different types of drying configurations that can be used in various fields such as electronics, biosensors, functional coating, micropatterning, etc.

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Why is it important?

The article showcased the octagonal coffee-ring pattern and octagonal uniform pattern with the use of a 3D microstructure patterned substrate. The formation of different deposition patterns was discussed in detail and it may help future researchers to have better control over the particle movement for the desired deposition pattern.