A bottom-up approach to fabricate patterned surfaces with asymmetrical TiO2 microparticles trapped in the holes of honeycomblike polymer film.

Patterned "bead in pore" composite film with hemispherical or mushroomlike TiO(2) microparticles lying in the holes of a honeycomblike polystyrene matrix has been fabricated by a template-free bottom-up approach from a homogeneous solution of TiCl(4)/polystyrene/CHCl(3) using the breath figures method. It is a very simple way to prepare hemispherical or mushroomlike TiO(2) microparticles and to get the hexagonally nonclose-packed arrays of asymmetrical particles with or without polymer matrix, which have potential applications in photonics.