Theory of liquid film growth and wetting instabilities on graphene

TL;DR

This paper explores how graphene influences wetting and film growth, revealing that it can cause arrested film growth and instabilities, with implications for other 2D materials.

Contribution

It provides a theoretical analysis of wetting phenomena on graphene in various geometries, highlighting the role of 2D materials in surface instabilities.

Findings

Graphene significantly affects wetting behavior.

Liquid film growth can be arrested at a critical thickness.

Surface instabilities and pattern formation can occur.

Abstract

We investigate wetting phenomena near graphene within the Dzyaloshinskii-Lifshitz-Pitaevskii theory for light gases composed of hydrogen, helium and nitrogen in three different geometries where graphene is either affixed to an insulating substrate, submerged or suspended. We find that the presence of graphene has a significant effect in all configurations. In a suspended geometry where graphene is able to wet on only one side, liquid film growth becomes arrested at a critical thickness which may trigger surface instabilities and pattern formation analogous to spinodal dewetting. These phenomena are also universally present in other two-dimensional materials.