Critical behavior of dimers in monolayers adsorbed on heterogeneous solid surfaces

Monte Carlo simulations within the grand canonical ensemble, the multiple-h istogram reweighting technique, and the finite size scaling analysis are us ed to explore the liquid-vapor coexistence of dimeric fluid adsorbed on a h eterogeneous square lattice. The adsorption isotherms of dimers, the nature of phase transitions, and the critical parameters are studied for various surfaces. It is demonstrated that the energetic heterogeneity and the topog raphy of the surface considerably affect the behavior of the adsorbed film. (C) 2001 Academic Press.