Does Surface Roughness Amplify Wetting?

0435409 - ÚCHP 2015 RIV US eng J - Journal Article
Malijevský, Alexandr
Does Surface Roughness Amplify Wetting?
Journal of Chemical Physics. Roč. 141, č. 18 (2014), s. 184703. ISSN 0021-9606. E-ISSN 1089-7690
R&D Projects: GA ČR GA13-09914S
Institutional support: RVO:67985858
Keywords : density functional theory * wetting * roughness
Subject RIV: CF - Physical ; Theoretical Chemistry
Impact factor: 2.952, year: 2014

Any solid surface is intrinsically rough on the microscopic scale. In this paper, we study the effect of this roughness on the wetting properties of hydrophilic substrates. Macroscopic arguments, such as those leading to the well-known Wenzel’s law, predict that surface roughness should amplify the wetting properties of such adsorbents. We use a fundamental measure density functional theory to demonstrate the opposite effect from roughness for microscopically corrugated surfaces, i.e., wetting is hindered.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0239268