Trypophobia, an aversion to things with semi-regular textures of small holes, has been an on-again off-again internet darling in recent years. But on the microscale, such patterns are an active area of research as membranes and scaffolds for novel materials. Chandrashekhar Bobade, a researcher at MIT World Peace University, prepared this holey sample from poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) using a technique called “breath figure” that uses humidity to form ordered arrays of aqueous and organic solvent phases. Evaporation of both phases leaves behind just the polymer, which formed along the way. Bobade collected this image of the result using scanning electron microscopy.
Submitted by Chandrashekhar Bobade
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