Filling and wetting transitions at grooved substrates.
The wetting and filling properties of a fluid adsorbed on a solid grooved substrate are studied by means of a microscopic density functional theory. The grooved substrates are modelled using a solid slab, interacting with the fluid particles via long-range dispersion forces, to which a one-dimensional array of infinitely long rectangular grooves is sculpted. By investigating the effect of the groove periodicity and the width of the grooves and the ridges, a rich variety of different wetting morphologies is found. In particular, we show that for a saturated ambient gas, the adsorbent can occur in one of four wetting states characterized by (i) empty grooves, (ii) filled grooves, (iii) a formation of mesoscopic hemispherical caps (iv) a macroscopically wet surface. The character of the transition between particular regimes, that also extend off-coexistence, sensitively depends on the model geometry. The temperature at which the system becomes completely wet is considerably higher than that for a flat wall.
E Hála Laboratory of Thermodynamics, Institute of Chemical Process Fundamentals, Academy of Sciences, 16502 Prague 6, Czech Republic. Department of Physical Chemistry, Institute of Chemical Technology, Prague, 166 28 Praha 6, Czech Republic.
Alexandr
A
Malijevský