Wetting and surface forces

Ludmila Boinovich; Alexandre Emelyanenko

doi:10.1016/j.cis.2011.03.002

Wetting and surface forces

Adv Colloid Interface Sci. 2011 Jul 11;165(2):60-9. doi: 10.1016/j.cis.2011.03.002. Epub 2011 Mar 13.

Authors

Ludmila Boinovich¹, Alexandre Emelyanenko

Affiliation

¹ A.N. Frumkin Institute of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia. boinovich@mail.ru

PMID: 21459355
DOI: 10.1016/j.cis.2011.03.002

Abstract

In this review we discuss the fundamental role of surface forces, with a particular emphasis on the effect of the disjoining pressure, in establishing the wetting regime in the three phase systems with both plane and curved geometry. The special attention is given to the conditions of the formation of wetting/adsorption liquid films on the surface of poorly wetted substrate and the possibility of their thermodynamic equilibrium with bulk liquid. The calculations of contact angles on the basis of the isotherms of disjoining pressure and the difference in wettability of flat and highly curved surfaces are discussed. Mechanisms of wetting hysteresis, related to the action of surface forces, are considered.