Capillary freezing or complete wetting of hard spheres in a planar hard slit?

Phys Rev Lett. 2004 Sep 3;93(10):108303. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.108303. Epub 2004 Sep 2.

Abstract

Extensive simulations of a hard sphere fluid confined between two planar hard walls show the onset of crystalline layers at the walls at about 98.3% of bulk crystallization density rho(f) independent of the wall separations L(z), and is, hence, a single wall phenomenon. As the bulk density far from the wall rho(b) increases, the thickness of the crystalline film appears to increase logarithmically, with (rho(f)-rho(b)) indicating complete wetting by the hard sphere crystal of the wall-fluid interface. Increasing rho(b) further, we observe a jump in the adsorption which depends on L(z) and corresponds to capillary freezing. The formation of crystalline layers below bulk crystallization, the logarithmic growth of the crystalline film, its independence of L(z), and its clear distinction from capillary freezing lend strong evidence for complete wetting by the hard sphere crystal at the wall-fluid interface.

Publication types

  • Evaluation Study

MeSH terms

  • Adsorption
  • Capillary Action
  • Computer Simulation
  • Crystallization / methods*
  • Freezing
  • Hardness
  • Microfluidics / methods*
  • Microspheres*
  • Models, Chemical*
  • Phase Transition
  • Solutions / chemistry*
  • Wettability

Substances

  • Solutions