Instabilities during Large-Area Continuous Nanoparticle Film Deposition

Continuous automated Langmuir-Blodgett-like deposition is used to create large area arrays of well organized films of nanoparticles.  This method includs floating particles at an interface atop a carrier fluid that flows toward a moving web, depositing fluid and particles onto the moving web.  In our research, we will investigate various operating parameters and instabilities that arise due to a transition from simple thin film flow from the assembly region to Landau-Levich flow drawing fluid faster than that delivered at the contact line.  We will demonstrate how both surface coverage and microstructure depends on the deposition parameters.