{"doi":"10.1016/j.colcom.2025.100837","title":"Scalable manufacturing of layered nanoparticle-polymer composite films through evaporative assembly","abstract":"This work explores stratification, a prescribed spatial variation of components in a multi-component film, in particle-polymer films prepared by a single-step evaporative drying technique. Our overall goal is to develop a more efficient and cost-effective way to create vertically structured multi-component polymer and colloid films. Films containing poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) chains and polystyrene (PS) colloidal nanoparticles were analyzed using microbeam small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) to probe the impact of evaporation rates and colloid sizes on stratification behavior. Under slow drying conditions, particle-on-top stratification was observed, consistent with a diffusive model of stratification behavior. Conversely, moderate evaporation rates resulted in non-stratified configurations for certain mixtures. Fast evaporation, achieved by drying at elevated temperatures, induced polymer-on-top stratification, which aligns with predictions from simulations. Overall, this study proposes a more efficient method for creating vertically structured films, with implications for various industries. • Stratified multi-component polymer-particle films were prepared in a single step process using evaporative assembly. • Microbeam SAXS and AFM show regimes of particle-on-top, polymer-on-top, and non-stratified structures. • Our studies demonstrate an efficient and facile method for tuning vertical structure of the films through the evaporation rate.","journal":"Colloids and Interface Science Communications","year":2025,"id":539272,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":3,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9615,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2025-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":348752,"name":"Surita R. Bhatia","orcid":"0000-0002-5950-193X","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":994155,"name":"S. D. A. Fernando","orcid":"0000-0001-9240-6531","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":31,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T02:52:30.048313Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}