Lattice study of a Janus interface

TL;DR

This study uses lattice gas simulations to analyze fluctuations at a Janus interface, revealing large contact number variations and interface fluctuations that match experimental viscous response data.

Contribution

It introduces a lattice simulation approach to study Janus interfaces, highlighting the role of specific length-scale interface fluctuations in observed phenomena.

Findings

Large fluctuations in liquid contact with hydrophobic surface

Power spectrum matches experimental viscous response

Interface fluctuations occur at 1.5 to 20 nm scales

Abstract

A lattice gas simulation of water between a hydrophobic plate and a hydrophilic plate (a Janus interface) shows large fluctuations in the number of liquid cells in contact with the hydrophobic plate, and a power spectrum similar to the experimental results that Zhang, Zhu, and Granick found [X. Y. Zhang, Y. X. Zhu, and S. Granick, Science 295, 663 (2002)] when measuring viscous response in a Janus system. Study of the spatial Fourier modes of the liquid-vapor interface suggests that interface fluctuations with length scales between approximately 1.5 and 20 nm cause the effects observed in the simulation.