Wetting of Elastic Solids on Nanopillars

Maxime Ignacio (1) , Y. Saito , P. Smereka , Olivier Pierre-Louis (1)

1 ILM - Institut Lumière Matière [Villeurbanne]

Solids and liquids are both known to exhibit Cassie-Baxter states, where a drop or a solid nanoparticle is maintained on top of pillars due to wetting forces. We point out that due to elastic strain, solid nanocrystals exhibit a behavior different from that of liquids. First, the equilibrium Cassie-Baxter state on a single pillar exhibits a spontaneous symmetry breaking due to elastic effects. The second consequence of elasticity is the existence of stable partially impaled states, resulting from a compromise between wetting forces which favor impalement and elastic strain which resists impalement. Based on kinetic Monte Carlo simulations which include elastic strain, we discuss these effects and we propose a global phase diagram for the stability of nanocrystals on nanopillars.

Mots clés: numbers: 68; 55; -a; 81; 10; Aj

Domaines: Chimie; Physique [physics]; Sciences de l'ingénieur [physics]

Maxime Ignacio, Y. Saito, P. Smereka, Olivier Pierre-Louis. Wetting of Elastic Solids on Nanopillars. Physical Review Letters, 2014, 112, pp.146102. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.146102⟩. ⟨hal-02310819⟩