Abstract
The condensation of water vapor on cold surfaces is termed as breath figures. It is fascinating that the highly ordered breath figure arrays can be formed by simple evaporation of a volatile polymer solution. It has been speculated that the ordered breath figure arrays originate from ordered water droplet arrays induced by the evaporation of volatile solvents. However, it is unknown what the real formation process of ordered water droplet arrays on volatile surfaces of pure solvents is. Herein, we report the real-time observation of the growth process of water droplets on the volatile surface of the pure solvent of carbon disulfide by using an optical microscope. We observed the highly ordered water droplet arrays on the volatile surface. We found six distinct stages during the evaporation process. The growth mechanism of water droplets obeys individual growth before coalescing. In addition, a few defects of large water droplets, vacancies and irregular boundaries were observed. The rapid movement of water droplets indicated the strong convective current in the solvent, promoting the rearrangement of water droplets to form more ordered arrays. The highly ordered water droplet arrays only need a moist environment, which is very convenient for ordered structures. Our findings not only provide direct evidence for ordered water droplet arrays but also quantitatively clarify their dynamic process, which helps to understand the mechanism of ordered breath figure arrays.
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