Spreading of molecularly thin wetting films on solid interfaces

TL;DR

This paper investigates the spreading behavior of molecularly thin liquid films on solid surfaces, combining experimental observations with a new solvable microscopic model to explain the physical mechanisms involved.

Contribution

It introduces a novel analytically solvable microscopic model that captures experimental spreading behaviors of molecularly thin films.

Findings

The model reproduces key experimental spreading patterns.

New experimental data on molecularly thin film spreading.

The model offers plausible physical explanations for observed phenomena.

Abstract

In this paper we study kinetics of spreading of thin liquid films on solid interfaces. We present an overview of current experimental picture and discuss available theoretical approaches and their limitations. We report some new experimental results on spreading of molecularly thin liquid films and propose an analytically solvable microscopic model, which reproduces experimentally observed behaviors and provides a seemingly plausible explanation of the underlying physical processes.