Characterization of molecular orientation of honeycomb-patterned films from polysaccharides

Recently, we reported for the first time the fabrication of cellulose and cellulose triacetate films having a honeycomb-pattern ¹⁾. These films were fabricated by casting of a W/O emulsion of chloroform including cellulose triacetate and ultrapure water onto hydrophilic substrate under a saturated water vapor condition. As this technique facilitates to fabricate nano- and microstructures by self-organization, it is more convenient than the usual photolithography technique. In the film preparation, the honeycomb-patterned frames were assumed to be stretched and deposited simultaneously with natural drying around the water droplet as a mold for the porous structure. In this study, we, therefore, attempt to characterize the orientation of cellulose molecular chains in the honeycomb-patterned films from cellulose and cellulose acetate using polarized light microscopy and so on.