Thin films of self-assembled materials by dip-coating technique

Self-assembly processes, which manifest in various natural phenomena, involve the constituents merging to construct intricate and well-structured material systems. Motivated by nature's elegance, synthetic self-assembled materials have experienced remarkable progress over the past two decades, facilitating the creation of structures spanning diverse length scales, ranging from the molecular level to larger macromolecular systems and microscale particles. An essential determinant for the practical application of self-assembled materials lies in the ability to fine-tune their self-assembly behavior, within which various complex physicochemical processes can take place. Among the techniques for depositing self-assembled thin films, dip-coating emerges as a particularly promising candidate. It shares the simplicity and expediency of drop-casting and spin-coating, while retaining the exceptional control over film thickness characteristic for layer-by-layer deposition. Moreover, it offers unrestricted substrate shape and size as well as permits the minimization of solution waste. Dip-coating, therefore, appears as an ideal approach for generating self-assembled thin films. Nevertheless, research efforts in this area remain limited, and a thorough comprehension of the interplay between dip-coating parameters and self-assembly behavior remains elusive. This thesis attempts to fill this knowledge gap by expanding the scope of materials combining dip-coating and self-assembly process. The thesis begins with an extensive review of the dip-coating technique, followed by distinct chapters exploring the self-assembly of various materials, including block copolymers, breath figure, and virus nanoparticles. Within these chapters, the thesis strives to establish systematic relationship between dip-coating parameter and the behavior of the specific material, thereby providing valuable insights that can steer future research in this field.