Formation of regular honeycomb-patterned porous film by self-organization

Regular honeycomb-structured porous films can be prepared by the casting of a polymer solution under humid conditions. The origin of these pores is 'empty' water droplets, which condense from the humid atmosphere onto the solution. The water droplets self-organize into a regular array and serve as a highly regular template for the precipitating polymer. The pore size can be controlled by the casting conditions as well as by the polymer used. A spherical-shaped polymer is required to support a high regularity. These specially designed polymers can easily be prepared by controlled radical polymerization techniques.