Mesoscopic pattern formation of nanostructured polymer assemblies

Hierarchical mesoscopic structures of the nanoscopic supramolecular assemblies, which consist of polyelectrolytes and bilayer-forming amphiphiles, are prepared by a simple and new solvent-casting method. Submicron scale 2-D structures, e.g. regular dots, stripes, and networks, are formed when highly diluted organic solutions of polymer assemblies are cast on solid surfaces. Dynamic mesoscopic regular structures, the so-called 'dissipative structures', formed in the non-equilibrium processes of solvent-casting are fixed as hierarchically structured polymer assemblies. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Limited. All rights reserved.