I'm looking for something like PDMS, but not as hydrophobic. I'm trying to form 2d crystals using the surface tension of an evaporating droplet to organize microspheres into an ordered array. PDMS would be perfect for this application, except it's too hydrophobic -- PDMS causes my aqueous solution to bead with a very high contact angle. I need something that allows the droplets to spread out further.
I need the material to able to be formed into sheets that can be stretched elastically, returning approximately to their original shape.
I'm looking for a material that's transparent in the visible -- doesn't have to be transparent over the entire range, but I suppose that red to near-IR is probably the part of the spectrum easiest for me to work with, so it would be best if I can transmit light through the material without much loss in that part of the spectrum.
I need the material to be available commercially or be simple to produce in a lab with limited chemistry know-how or materials -- again, PDMS would be awesome, if it weren't for the high contact angle.
I'd also be happy to try playing with the solution that the colloidal microspheres are suspended in. They're about 1um in size and formed from Fmoc-G-(Bhoc)-aeg-OH powder dissolved in water heated to 100°C. I tried previously with low concentrations of SDS, but didn't see promising results -- I have some new samples under preparation right this moment to check those earlier negative results.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
