title: Three-dimensional patterns from the thin-film drying of amino acid solutions.
abstract: Experimental atomic force microscopy (AFM) images show the dried-in patterns from amino acid solutions which can be in the form of dots or networks. The three-dimensional lattice-gas Kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) model is applied to simulate the formation of dot-like and network-like particle structures from the evaporating thin films of solutions. A sigmoidal jump in the chemical potential value is implemented to obtain dual-scale structures with the grain size distribution peaking at two distinctive values. The simulated and experimental results are qualitatively comparable.
authors.affiliation: School of Civil, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne 3001, Australia.
authors.forename: Xuehua
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 639798, Singapore.
authors.forename: Alexandru
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Crivoi
authors.affiliation: School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 639798, Singapore.
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Duan
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D000596:Amino Acids / Q000737:chemistry*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force / Q000379:methods; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D012996:Solutions
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids; D012996:Solutions