Complete wetting of elastically responsive substrates

TL;DR

This paper presents a theoretical analysis of how elastic deformation of substrates with tiltable plates influences wetting behavior, revealing a feedback loop that causes stepped adsorption isotherms and enabling tunable wetting properties.

Contribution

It introduces a novel model describing the interplay between elastic deformation and wetting, leading to controllable substrate properties.

Findings

Identification of a feedback loop between wetting and substrate deformation

Prediction of stepped adsorption isotherms due to elastic effects

Proposal of tunable wetting surfaces based on elastic responses

Abstract

We analyze theoretically complete wetting of a substrate supporting an array of parallel, vertical plates which can tilt elastically. The adsorbed liquid tilts the plates, inducing clustering, and thus modifies the substrate geometry. In turn, this change in geometry alters the wetting properties of the substrate and, consequently, the adsorption of liquid. This geometry-wetting feedback loop leads to stepped adsorption isotherms with each step corresponding to an abrupt change in the substrate geometry. We discuss how this can be used for constructing substrates with tunable wetting and adsorption properties.