title: Nanogeometry matters: unexpected decrease of capillary adhesion forces with increasing relative humidity.
abstract: The sticking effect between hydrophilic surfaces occurring at increasing relative humidity (RH) is an everyday phenomenon with uncountable implications. Here experimental evidence is presented for a counterintuitive monotonous decrease of the capillary adhesion forces between hydrophilic surfaces with increasing RH for the whole humidity range. It is shown that this unexpected result is related to the actual shape of the asperity at the nanometer scale: a model based on macroscopic thermodynamics predicts this decrease in the adhesion force for a sharp object ending in an almost flat nanometer-sized apex, in full agreement with experiments. This anomalous decrease is due to the fact that a significant growth of the liquid meniscus formed at the contact region with increasing humidity is hindered for this geometry. These results are relevant in the analysis of the dynamical behavior of nanomenisci. They could also have an outstanding value in technological applications, since the undesirable sticking effect between surfaces occurring at increasing RH could be avoided by controlling the shape of the surface asperities at the nanometric scale.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Microelectrónica de Madrid CNM-CSIC, Isaac Newton 8, PTM, 28760 Tres Cantos, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Mariana
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Köber
authors.forename: Enrique
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sahagún
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: García-Mochales
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Briones
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Luna
authors.forename: Juan José
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Sáenz
mesh_terms: D000268:Adhesiveness; D006813:Humidity; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry*; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D013816:Thermodynamics