Wetting films on chemically heterogeneous substrates
arXiv:cond-mat/9906168 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevE.60.6919
Abstract
Based on a microscopic density functional theory we investigate the morphology of thin liquidlike wetting films adsorbed on substrates endowed with well-defined chemical heterogeneities. As paradigmatic cases we focus on a single chemical step and on a single stripe. In view of applications in microfluidics the accuracy of guiding liquids by chemical microchannels is discussed. Finally we give a general prescription of how to investigate theoretically the wetting properties of substrates with arbitrary chemical structures.
56 pages, RevTeX, 20 Figures