2005/01/31 by Arik Yochelis, L. M. Pismen, Len M. Pismen
Chemistry · Earth and Planetary Sciences · Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Chemical physics #Chemistry #Condensed matter physics #Context (archaeology) #Dewetting #Disjoining pressure #Hamaker constant #Molecule #Organic chemistry #Phase (matter) #Phase Equilibria and Thermodynamics #Phase transition #Physics #Spinodal #Theoretical and Computational Physics #Thermodynamics #Van der Waals radius #Wetting #Wetting transition #nanoparticles nucleation surface interactions #physics.chem-ph #physics.flu-dyn #van der Waals force
paper · pdf · doi:10.1016/j.colsurfa.2005.08.047
published as Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochem. Eng. Aspects 274, 170 (2006) · 13 pages, 12 figures
arxiv created 2005/04/07 · openalex publication_date 2005/10/14 · arxiv updated 2011/11/10 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We present a theoretical study of wetting phenomena and interactions between liquid-vapor interfaces based on the density functional theory. The focus is mostly on the impact of long-range van der Waals interactions both within the fluid and between the fluid and substrate. For the latter, we consider two models-hard wall and soft wall approximations-differing by the role of steric effects and leading to a qualitatively different character of phase transitions. We compute numerically the disjoining and conjoining potentials (which are important dynamically for spreading, spinodal dewetting, and coarsening in thin films, as well as resolution of interfacial singularities), and loci of intermediate and complete wetting transitions as functions of the Hamaker constant and temperature. We find that taking into account short-range interactions is essential for the description of wetting transitions in the soft wall limit. We derive an analytical form of the disjoining potential and analyze it in the context of the complete, frustrated and partial wetting.