The effect of substrate waviness on random sequential adsorption packing properties

TL;DR

This study investigates how surface waviness affects the packing properties of spheres in random sequential adsorption, revealing that surface structure significantly influences packing density and correlations at higher waviness levels.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the impact of substrate waviness on packing properties, highlighting the potential to infer surface porosity from adsorption measurements.

Findings

Packing fraction decreases with increased waviness.

Growth kinetics are affected by surface unevenness.

Density correlation functions change notably at higher waviness.

Abstract

Random sequential adsorption of spheres on a wavy surface was studied. It was determined how surface structure influences random packing properties such as the packing fraction, the kinetics of packing growth, and the two-particle density correlation function. Until the substrate varies within the range one order of magnitude smaller than the particle's diameter, the properties of the packings obtained do not differ significantly from those on a flat surface. On the other hand, for the higher amplitude of unevenness, the packing fraction, low-density growth kinetics, and the density autocorrelation function change significantly, while asymptotic growth kinetics seems to be barely sensitive to surface waviness. Besides fundamental significance, the study suggests that the experimental measurement of the aforementioned basic properties of adsorption monolayers can reveal the surface's porous structure without investigating the surface itself.