Microscopic aspects of wetting using classical density functional theory

P. Yatsyshin, M.A. Durán-Olivencia, S. Kalliadasis

Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter Vol. 30, nº. 27, pp. 274003-1 - 274003-9

Summary:

Wetting is a rather efficient mechanism for nucleation of a phase (typically liquid) on the interface between two other phases (typically solid and gas). In many experimentally accessible cases of wetting, the interplay between the substrate structure, and the fluid–fluid and fluid–substrate intermolecular interactions brings about an entire 'zoo' of possible fluid configurations, such as liquid films with a thickness of a few nanometers, liquid nanodrops and liquid bridges. These fluid configurations are often associated with phase transitions occurring at the solid–gas interface and at lengths of just several molecular diameters away from the substrate. In this special issue article, we demonstrate how a fully microscopic classical density-functional framework can be applied to the efficient, rational and systematic exploration of the rich phase space of wetting phenomena. We consider a number of model prototype systems such as wetting on a planar wall, a chemically patterned wall and a wedge. Through density-functional computations we demonstrate that for these simply structured substrates the behaviour of the solid–gas interface is already highly complex and non-trivial.

Keywords: classical density functional theory, wetting, phase transitions

JCR Impact Factor and WoS quartile: 2,711 - Q2 (2018); 2,700 - Q3 (2022)

DOI reference: https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-648X/aac6fa

Published on paper: July 2018.

Published on-line: June 2018.

Citation:
P. Yatsyshin, M.A. Durán-Olivencia, S. Kalliadasis, Microscopic aspects of wetting using classical density functional theory. Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter. Vol. 30, nº. 27, pp. 274003-1 - 274003-9, July 2018. [Online: June 2018]