Wetting, drying, and layering of colloid-polymer mixtures at porous interfaces

The influence of interface porosity on the wetting properties of colloid-polymer mixtures is studied within density functional theory for the Asakura-Oosawa-Vrij model at the surface of a quenched hard-sphere matrix. While the porosity hardly changes the location of the transition from partial to complete wetting at colloidal bulk gas-liquid coexistence, the onset of wetting, as signaled by the first discontinuous layering transition, can be efficiently controlled by tailoring the porosity. We furthermore find that the penetrability of the porous interface induces complete drying into the matrix upon approaching capillary coexistence.