Fabrication and Analysis of Surface Patterned Regular Porous Silicone Films

Abstract

In this paper, we present fabrication and characterization of surface patterned regular porous silicones using the breath figure arrays (BFAs) method with a controlled pore size. The purpose of this study is to develop the regular porous surface patterned films with high consistency silicone elastomers MED-4035 and MED-4080 that could be potentially used for various applications like filtration and separation, energy storage and thermal insulation. The influence of process parameters on morphology of BFAs was studied. The study was carried out at various conditions to achieve the optimized porous regular films. The structure of obtained films characterized through Scanning Electron Microscopy that revealed the surface feature of films like pore regularity, pores geometry and pores size distribution. The geometrical features of films are analyzed and regularity of the films has been evaluated.