Threshold criterion for wetting at the triple point

Abstract

Grand canonical simulations are used to calculate adsorption isotherms of various classical gases on alkali metal and Mg surfaces. Ab initio adsorption potentials and Lennard-Jones gas-gas interactions are used. Depending on the system, the resulting behavior can be nonwetting for all temperatures studied, complete wetting, or (in the intermediate case) exhibit a wetting transition. An unusual variety of wetting transitions at the triple point is found in the case of a specific adsorption potential of intermediate strength. The general threshold for wetting near the triple point is found to be close to that predicted with a heuristic model of Cheng et al. This same conclusion was drawn in a recent experimental and simulation study of Ar on CO_2 by Mistura et al. These results imply that a dimensionless wetting parameter w is useful for predicting whether wetting behavior is present at and above the triple temperature. The nonwetting/wetting crossover value found here is w circa 3.3.

15 pages, 8 figures

References in corpus (4)

• Wetting transitions of Ne
• Prewetting transitions of Ar and Ne on alkali metal surfaces
• Wetting of Argon on CO2
• Computer Simulations of the Wetting Properties of Neon on Heterogeneous Surfaces

Cited by in corpus (7)

• Evolution of topological order in Xe films on a quasicrystal surface
• To wet or not to wet: that is the question
• Capillary condensation in cylindrical nanopores
• Xe films on a decagonal Al-Ni-Co quasicrystal surface
• Noble gas films on a decagonal AlNiCo quasicrystal
• Simple Model of Capillary Condensation in porous media
• Correlation between asymmetric profiles in slits and standard prewetting lines