Morphology Formation from Ternary Mixtures upon Evaporation : a Square Cell Model Approach

Abstract: We present a novel modelling approach for the morphology formation from ternary mixtures upon evaporation, which takes into consideration two different length scales of the interaction, and further allows for these length scales to be altered. A quantitative study of the interfacial energy hints towards the existence of a mesoscopic regime - further research is needed to verify the validity of this claim however. We also demonstrate that the solvent initially follows a Fickian law of diffusion, then deviates from this behaviour, presumably due to the phase separated regions produced by the two remaining (active) components. We also attempt to bridge the gap between this work and a hypothetical three-dimensional model by considering a top-down view of the system. Here, we observe domain growth dominated by Ostwald ripening, with some coalescence. The domain growth was further characterised using Fourier image analysis.