Wetting reversal in colloid-polymer systems

Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2010 May;81(5 Pt 1):051602. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.81.051602. Epub 2010 May 12.

Abstract

The wetting of a phase-separated colloid-polymer mixture in contact with a hard wall is analyzed using free volume theory in a Nakanishi-Fisher-type approach. We present results for the wetting phase diagram for several model approximations. Our analysis is compared with a previous analysis by Aarts [J. Chem. Phys. 120, 1973 (2004)]. We find that there is a crossover from wetting to drying at a threshold value for the colloid-polymer size ratio and that the transitions are close to the critical point and of second order in nature.

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms
  • Biophysics / methods*
  • Colloids / chemistry*
  • Models, Statistical
  • Monte Carlo Method
  • Osmotic Pressure
  • Polymers / chemistry*
  • Thermodynamics
  • Wettability

Substances

  • Colloids
  • Polymers