We have measured the adsorption of argon films on arrays of microscopic nonlinear cusps and of semicircular channels. In the former case, we observe a distinct crossover from a planarlike to a geometry dependent growth behavior near liquid-vapor bulk coexistence, characterized by a growth exponent chi equal to -0.96 +/- 0.04 in very good agreement with the predictions of a recent scaling theory [C. Rascon and A. O. Parry, J. Chem. Phys. 112, 5175 (2000)]. The crossover location is also consistent with theory. Instead, on the concave channels we find a much steeper growth near saturation that may signal the formation of two menisci at both sides of the channel bottom. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.
Complete wetting of curved microscopic channels
Massimo Tormen;Annamaria Gerardino;
2006
Abstract
We have measured the adsorption of argon films on arrays of microscopic nonlinear cusps and of semicircular channels. In the former case, we observe a distinct crossover from a planarlike to a geometry dependent growth behavior near liquid-vapor bulk coexistence, characterized by a growth exponent chi equal to -0.96 +/- 0.04 in very good agreement with the predictions of a recent scaling theory [C. Rascon and A. O. Parry, J. Chem. Phys. 112, 5175 (2000)]. The crossover location is also consistent with theory. Instead, on the concave channels we find a much steeper growth near saturation that may signal the formation of two menisci at both sides of the channel bottom. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.