Working with Polystyrene nanospheres

The optimization of this parameters surrounding the application of nanospheres has been by far the most difficult part of the project so far.  I have reached a catch 22 wherein by increasing the amount of surfactant in the nanosphere diffusion I obtain better coverage and a more uniform monolayer.  However, by increasing the amount of surfactant I inhibit the etching process by creating a "junk" layer in between the spheres which creates its own etching mask.  This additional mask reduces the resolution of the etching process.  By adding no surfactant I decrease the coverage and the uniformity of the layer.  So I have started working with another group on campus that uses these spheres, albeit of larger size, and does so by first cleaning them of surfactant and using hydrophobic treating of the substrate to create an area of hydrophilicity which allows the spheres to adhere through evaporation.  Tomorrow I will test a few of my samples at their lab using bead sizes closer to what I want to be using and see if the results are comparable.  If they are then I will take samples made using each procedure for etching and see which one produces better results.  I was hoping to be finished with this part of the project months ago, but I have been constantly reminded that there are a thousand ways to not make a light bulb.  On the channels side, I will be going to Tulsa early next week to make some samples which should be of sufficient quality to be used in AFM studies.  The SEM there was still having a problem with scaling the last time I spoke with the technician but with any luck that problem will have been solved by the end of this week.