Evaporation-driven self-organization of photoluminescent organic dye-doped silica-poly(vinylpyrrolidone) hybrid films prepared by low-speed dip-coating

•Sol–gel films containing rhordamine 6G were obtained by low-speed dip-coating.•Linear stripe patterns were spontaneously formed on the surface of the films.•The pattern size depended on the solvent contents in the coating solutions.•The patterned films exhibited light emission only at the surface patterns. We prepared silica-poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) hybrid films containing a photoluminescent organic dye, rhordamine 6G (R6G), by low-speed dip-coating, where the spontaneous pattern formation was induced in the films. Stripe patterns arranged perpendicular to the substrate withdrawal direction were spontaneously formed by stick-slip motion at the meniscus during dip-coating, and the film structure (i.e., the film thickness, and the height, width and spacing of stripe patterns) was changed with increasing amounts of volatile solvent (C2H5OH) in solutions (C2H5OH/Si(OCH3)4 mole ratio (x)=20–150). As a result of the optimization of the film structure, localized photoluminescence at the stripe patterns was achieved over x=120.