Using the mean-field diffuse-interface model for liquid-vapor system and employing the numerical string method, we study the critical nuclei involved in the prewetting transitions on curved substrates. We first introduce three distinct kinds of critical nuclei, namely, the disklike, bandlike, and layerlike ones, which respectively correspond to three possible growth modes of wetting films. We show the disklike growth mode to be the only mode for infinite planar substrates. We then turn to cylindrical and spherical substrates, the two simplest but most important geometries in the real world. We focus on the critical nuclei of finite size, through which the wetting films may be formed with finite thermodynamic probabilities. It is shown that the disklike growth mode is always the most probable for wetting film nucleation and growth as long as a disklike critical nucleus exists. It is also shown that on a cylindrical substrate, the disklike critical nucleus can no longer exist if the substrate radius is smaller than some critical value, comparable to the radius of the disklike critical nucleus on planar substrate. We find that on a cylindrical substrate whose radius is below the critical value, the nucleation and growth of a wetting film can only occur through the bandlike critical nucleus. It is worth emphasizing that the results concerning the bandlike and layerlike growth modes can only be obtained from the diffuse-interface model, beyond the macroscopic description based on the line and surface tensions.
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
28 September 2009
Research Article|
September 25 2009
Nucleation of wetting films on cylindrical and spherical substrates: A numerical study by the string method
Chunyin Qiu;
Chunyin Qiu
1Program in Nano Science and Technology,
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Search for other works by this author on:
Tiezheng Qian
Tiezheng Qian
a)
2Department of Mathematics and Joint KAUST-HKUST Micro/Nano-Fluidics Laboratory,
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Search for other works by this author on:
a)
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Electronic mail: [email protected].
J. Chem. Phys. 131, 124708 (2009)
Article history
Received:
July 06 2009
Accepted:
September 09 2009
Citation
Chunyin Qiu, Tiezheng Qian; Nucleation of wetting films on cylindrical and spherical substrates: A numerical study by the string method. J. Chem. Phys. 28 September 2009; 131 (12): 124708. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3239462
Download citation file:
Pay-Per-View Access
$40.00
Sign In
You could not be signed in. Please check your credentials and make sure you have an active account and try again.
Citing articles via
DeePMD-kit v2: A software package for deep potential models
Jinzhe Zeng, Duo Zhang, et al.
CREST—A program for the exploration of low-energy molecular chemical space
Philipp Pracht, Stefan Grimme, et al.
Evaluation of the MACE force field architecture: From medicinal chemistry to materials science
Dávid Péter Kovács, Ilyes Batatia, et al.
Related Content
Room temperature atomic layerlike deposition of ZnS on organic thin films: Role of substrate functional groups and precursors
J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A (June 2015)
Application of the string method to the study of critical nuclei in capillary condensation
J. Chem. Phys. (October 2008)
Aspects of prewetting at nonplanar surfaces
J. Chem. Phys. (April 2004)
On the nature of zero temperature coefficient of resistance of RuO2 thin film resistor formation using in situ annealing
J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A (July 1993)
Heterogeneous critical nucleation on a completely wettable substrate
J. Chem. Phys. (June 2011)