Related papers: Surface melting of nanoscopic epitaxial films
Surface tension tends to minimize the area of interfaces between pieces of matter in different thermodynamic phases, be they in the solid or the liquid state. This can be relevant for the macroscopic shape of very soft solids, and lead to a…
Alkali halide (100) surfaces are anomalously poorly wetted by their own melt at the triple point. We carried out simulations for NaCl(100) within a simple (BMHFT) model potential. Calculations of the solid-vapor, solid-liquid and…
We study the interface between a solid trapped within a bath of liquid by a suitably shaped non-uniform external potential. Such a potential may be constructed using lasers, external electric or magnetic fields or a surface template. We…
Thin films made of deformable micro- and nano-units, such as biological membranes, polymer interfaces, and particle-laden liquid surfaces, exhibit a complex behavior during drying, with consequences for various applications like wound…
Modeling of wrinkles and folds formation in single and multilayer graphene sheets lying on flat deformable (polymer) substrates has been carried out. It is shown that the deformability of the substrate leads to the appearance of significant…
We have studied by means of Density-Functional calculations the wetting properties of Ar and Ne adsorbed on a plane whose adsorption properties simulate the Li and Na surfaces. We use reliable ab-initio potentials to model the gas-substrate…
Zero-point fluctuations of surface plasmon modes near the interface between metal and nonlinear dielectric are shown to produce a thin layer of altered dielectric constant near the interface. This effect may be sufficiently large to produce…
We characterise the structural properties of the quasi-liquid layer (QLL) at two low-index ice surfaces in the presence of sodium chloride (Na$^+/$Cl$^-$) ions by molecular dynamics simulations. We find that the presence of a high surface…
We report on the onset of fluid entrainment when a contact line is forced to advance over a dry solid of arbitrary wettability. We show that entrainment occurs at a critical advancing speed beyond which the balance between capillary,…
Recent experiments and simulations have demonstrated that particle-covered interfaces can exist in stable non-spherical shapes as a result of the steric jamming of the interfacially trapped particles, which confers the interface with…
A disordered quasi-liquid layer of water is thought to cover the ice surface, but many issues, such as its onset temperature, its thickness, or its actual relation to bulk liquid water have been a matter of unsettled controversy for more…
A spontaneous ferromagnetic moment can be induced in Bi$_{2}$Te$_{3}$ thin films below a temperature T $\approx$ 16 K by the introduction of Mn dopants. We demonstrate that films grown via molecular beam epitaxy with the stoichiometry…
The high-temperature properties of the Al(111) surface are studied by molecular-dynamics simulation. This surface does not melt below the bulk melting point, but can be superheated. Superheating of metal surfaces has been recently observed…
We introduce a numerical workflow to model and simulate transient close-contact melting processes based on the space-time finite element method. That is, we aim at computing the velocity at which a forced heat source melts through a…
Pattern formation induced by wrinkling is a very common phenomenon exhibited in soft-matter substrates. In all these systems wrinkles develop in presence of compressively stressed thin films lying on compliant substrates. Here we…
The wetting of solid surfaces by fluids is a problem of great practical importance that has been extensively studied over the years. Most often, the experimental work has involved measurements of the contact angle made by a liquid on the…
In this paper we present a generalization of a simple solid-on-solid epitaxial model of thin films growth, when surface morphology anisotropy is provoked by anisotropy in model control parameters: binding energy and/or diffusion barrier.…
Superconducting transition temperatures Tc of the YBCO film surface and of the YBCO film/substrate interface were measured inductively. It was observed that the interface- Tc is always higher then the surface - Tc. However deposition of…
We study the role of surface topology, surface chemistry, and wall superheat temperature on the onset of boiling, bubble nucleation and growth, and the possible formation of an insulating vapour film by means of large-scale MD simulations.…
Molecular dynamics simulation have shown that after initial surface melting, nanowires can melt via two mechanisms: an interface front moves towards the wire centre; the growth of an instability at the interface can cause the solid to…