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A Versatile Strategy for the Uniform Patterning of Diverse Functional Materials via Controlled Marangoni Flow
Guangji Wang1,2, Jiting Liu3, Yihuan Wang1,2
1Beijing Key Laboratory of Atomic-Scale Precision Manufacturing and Cross-Scale Device Fabrication, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
ACS Nano
|May 21, 2026
Summary
A new drying strategy uses surfactants and humidity to prevent the coffee-ring effect in organic solvents. This method enables uniform thin-film fabrication for advanced electronic and luminescent devices.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Chemical Engineering
- Surface Science
Background:
- The coffee-ring effect, a common issue in solution-based fabrication, leads to non-uniform film deposition.
- Existing methods to suppress this effect are often limited to aqueous systems.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a novel drying strategy for uniform thin-film fabrication using organic solvents.
- To extend surfactant-mediated drying techniques to non-aqueous systems.
Main Methods:
- A surfactant-mediated, humidity-intensified drying strategy was employed for organic solvent-based droplets.
- The method utilizes surfactants to lower surface tension and elevated humidity to intensify inward Marangoni flow, counteracting outward flows.
Main Results:
- The strategy effectively suppressed the coffee-ring effect, resulting in high thickness uniformity.
- Uniform patterns were fabricated from diverse functional materials on various substrates (rigid and flexible).
- Demonstrated potential in fabricating large-area fluorescent images, thin-film transistor arrays, and a light-emitting diode display prototype.
Conclusions:
- The developed drying strategy offers a robust solution for uniform thin-film fabrication in organic solvent systems.
- This technique broadens the applicability of surfactant-mediated drying for advanced material patterning.
- The method shows significant promise for the development of next-generation luminescent and electronic devices.
