English

Wetting transition of water on graphite and other surfaces

Materials Science 2007-05-23 v1

Abstract

A wetting transition occurs when the contact angle of a liquid drop on a surface changes from a nonzero value to zero. Such a transition has never been observed for water on any solid surface. This paper discusses the value of the temperature T_w at which the transition should occur for water on graphite. A simple model, previously used for nonpolar fluids, predicts the value of TwT_w as a function of the well-depth D of the adsorption potential. While DD is not well known for the case of water/graphite, the model implies that T_w is likely to fall in the range 350 to 500 K. Experimental search for this transition is warranted. Water wetting transition temperatures on other surfaces are also discussed.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0404346,
  title  = {Wetting transition of water on graphite and other surfaces},
  author = {S. M. Gatica and J. K. Johnson and X. C. Zhao and M. W. Cole},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0404346},
  year   = {2007}
}

Comments

14 pages, 2 figures