Hydrodynamic Crossovers in Surface-Directed Spinodal Decomposition and Surface Enrichment

TL;DR

This paper uses molecular dynamics simulations to study how surface-directed spinodal decomposition and surface enrichment evolve, revealing a crossover from diffusive to hydrodynamic growth regimes at wetting surfaces.

Contribution

It provides detailed MD results and phenomenological explanations for the crossover in growth dynamics of wetting and enrichment layers.

Findings

Identification of diffusive to hydrodynamic crossover in layer growth

Quantitative characterization of surface morphology evolution

Validation of phenomenological models for growth regimes

Abstract

We present comprehensive molecular dynamics (MD) results for the kinetics of surface-directed spinodal decomposition (SDSD) and surface enrichment (SE) in binary mixtures at wetting surfaces. We study the surface morphology and the growth dynamics of the wetting and enrichment layers. The growth law for the thickness of these layers shows a crossover from a diffusive regime to a hydrodynamic regime. We provide phenomenological arguments to understand this crossover.