TY - JOUR
T1 - Microscopic insight into surface wetting
T2 - Relations between interfacial water structure and the underlying lattice constant
AU - Zhu, Chongqin
AU - Li, Hui
AU - Huang, Yongfeng
AU - Zeng, Xiao Cheng
AU - Meng, Sheng
PY - 2013/3/19
Y1 - 2013/3/19
N2 - We report simulation evidence that the structure of the first water layer next to the surface can strongly affect the contact angle of water droplets. Molecular dynamics simulations show that a small uniform strain (±3%) applied to the lattice constant of a multilayer hydrophilic surface can introduce a marked change in the wetting tendency. In particular, when the lattice constant of a hydrophilic surface matches the projected oxygen-oxygen distance of bulk water to the surface, a contact-angle minimum is resulted. In stark contrast, such a lattice strain has little effect on the wetting properties of hydrophobic surfaces. The structure of the first water layer next to the hydrophilic surface gradually loses characteristics of liquid water when moving away from the contact-angle minimum. Our results demonstrate a close correlation among the length of lattice constant, contact angle of the water droplet, and the structure and dynamics of vicinal water.
AB - We report simulation evidence that the structure of the first water layer next to the surface can strongly affect the contact angle of water droplets. Molecular dynamics simulations show that a small uniform strain (±3%) applied to the lattice constant of a multilayer hydrophilic surface can introduce a marked change in the wetting tendency. In particular, when the lattice constant of a hydrophilic surface matches the projected oxygen-oxygen distance of bulk water to the surface, a contact-angle minimum is resulted. In stark contrast, such a lattice strain has little effect on the wetting properties of hydrophobic surfaces. The structure of the first water layer next to the hydrophilic surface gradually loses characteristics of liquid water when moving away from the contact-angle minimum. Our results demonstrate a close correlation among the length of lattice constant, contact angle of the water droplet, and the structure and dynamics of vicinal water.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84875237829&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84875237829&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.126101
DO - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.126101
M3 - Article
C2 - 25166822
AN - SCOPUS:84875237829
VL - 110
JO - Physical Review Letters
JF - Physical Review Letters
SN - 0031-9007
IS - 12
M1 - 126101
ER -