Direct determination of three-phase contact line properties on nearly molecular scale

Autor(en)

P. M. Winkler, R. L. McGraw, Paulus Bauer, C. Rentenberger, Paul Wagner

Abstrakt

Wetting phenomena in multi-phase systems govern the shape of the contact line which separates the different phases. For liquids in contact with solid surfaces wetting is typically described in terms of contact angle. While in macroscopic systems the contact angle can be determined experimentally, on the molecular scale contact angles are hardly accessible. Here we report the first direct experimental determination of contact angles as well as contact line curvature on a scale of the order of 1nm. For water nucleating heterogeneously on Ag nanoparticles we find contact angles around 15 degrees compared to 90 degrees for the corresponding macroscopically measured equilibrium angle. The obtained microscopic contact angles can be attributed to negative line tension in the order of -10(-10) J/m that becomes increasingly dominant with increasing curvature of the contact line. These results enable a consistent theoretical description of heterogeneous nucleation and provide firm insight to the wetting of nanosized objects.

Organisation(en)

Aerosolphysik und Umweltphysik, Physik Nanostrukturierter Materialien

Externe Organisation(en)

Brookhaven National Laboratory

Journal

Scientific Reports

Band

6

Anzahl der Seiten

7

ISSN

2045-2322

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1038/srep26111

Publikationsdatum

05-2016

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

103020 Oberflächenphysik

Schlagwörter

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/7d3fae0c-7151-4baa-8a5b-0ec4843ed30d