M. Haataja et al., DYNAMICS OF THE SPREADING OF CHAIN-LIKE MOLECULES WITH ASYMMETRIC SURFACE INTERACTIONS, Physical review. E, Statistical physics, plasmas, fluids, and related interdisciplinary topics, 53(5), 1996, pp. 5111-5122
In this work we study the spreading dynamics of tiny liquid droplets o
n solid surfaces in the case where the ends of the molecules feel diff
erent interactions with respect to the surface. We consider a simple m
odel of dimers and shea chainlike molecules that cannot form chemical
bonds with the surface. We use constant temperature molecular dynamics
techniques to examine in detail the microscopic structure of the time
-dependent precursor film. We find that in some cases it can exhibit a
high degree of local order that can persist even for flexible chains.
Our model also reproduces the experimentally observed early- and late
-time spreading regimes where the radius of the film grows proportiona
l to t(0.5). The ratios of the associated transport coefficients are i
n good overall agreement with experiments. Our density profiles are al
so in good qualitative agreement with measurements on the spreading of
molecules on hydrophobic surfaces.