Patterning Dewetting and Self-Healing of Polymer Nanofilms on a Brush Layer

Patterning dewetting of a nanoscale polymer film on a brush layer is investigated by many-body dissipative particle dynamics. Four types of autophobic dewetting phenomena are clearly identified: (i) spinodal decomposition, (ii) nucleation and growth, (iii) stable hole, and (iv) metastable self-healing. The outcome depends on the film thickness, grafting density of polymer brush (ρ _g ), brush length, and nucleus size. Two morphological phase diagrams of the dewetting mechanism are acquired for film on the short and long brush layers, respectively. On the short brush, the stable hole appears in the middle range of ρ _g for the film with the intermediate thickness. On the long brush, the stable hole prevails at low ρ _g as the film is imposed with a large nucleus. On the basis of the stable hole mechanism, the casted film can dewet on the brush layer and evolve to exhibit a pattern similar to the underlying brush.