A simple and effective strategy is proposed for fabricating honeycomb-patterned ethyl cellulose (EC) films via a combination of the dip-coating and breath figure methods under a wide humidity range (40–90%). A mixture of toluene and methanol as a volatile solvent/nonsolvent pair was used to effectively control the surface morphology. Additionally, honeycomb patterns were successfully formed via dip-coating under a low humidity (relative humidity less than 40%), when water was directly added into the mixed solution. The important factors that influenced the morphology of EC honeycomb-patterned films were investigated, such as the humidity, solution concentration, and the withdrawal speed during dip-coating. The pore sizes could be controlled by changing the film-formation conditions. Water contact angle enables a transition from hydrophilic to hydrophobic. The possible mechanisms of honeycomb pattern formation are discussed. The fabrication of an ordered honeycomb-patterned film in a cost-effective and convenient manner will have broad application potential in the future.

A pure and (Fe–Ni) doped tin oxide thin films were formed on glass substrates by sol–gel dip coating method. Some characterization techniques are used as X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV–vis spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy (AFM) to study the effect of method conditions and dopants on the structural, morphological, and optical properties of thin films. According to XRD results, no phase attributed to Fe or Ni were detected, which suggests the incorporation of Fe and Ni in SnO2 network. All the diffraction peaks can be assigned as rutile phase of pure SnO2 except (111) is attributed to cubic phase. The optic analyses have shown an average transmittance between 70 and 90%, and showed a direct band gap reducing with increase in Fe doping (3.82–3.72 eV) and Ni content (3.82–3.69 eV). AFM images have revealed that surface roughness is affected strongly by deposition conditions and dopant contents.

In this work, we report the preparation of ultrathin submicro- and nanoporous cellulose films onto Si (100). The effect of different experimental conditions of preparation on the film surface morphology was studied, namely the role of the film casting method (spin- versus dip-coating), solvent (toluene or tetrahydrofuran), substrate pretreatment (hydrophilicity degree), and regeneration procedure with HCl vapors (two consecutive dips followed by regeneration or regeneration after each dip). The surface morphological structures presented in this work were never obtained before without the use of templates. A rather regular two-dimensional pore network was obtained onto the less hydrophilic Si substrate (contact angle≅68°), after two consecutive dips (with an intercalary rotation of 180º) in trimethylsilyl cellulose diluted in toluene and regeneration at the end. All the surfaces were characterized by atomic force microscopy.