Enabling efficient energy barrier computations of wetting transitions on geometrically patterned surfaces

Area of Science:

• Surface Science
• Materials Science
• Computational Physics

Background:

• Surface roughness engineering is crucial for controlling wetting properties.
• Current simulation methods (LBM, MD) for energy barrier computations are computationally intensive.
• Accurate prediction of wetting states (Cassie–Baxter, Wenzel) is essential for surface design.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an accurate and computationally efficient method for calculating energy barriers of wetting states on patterned surfaces.
• To bypass complex boundary condition implementations in wetting simulations.
• To enable the design of surfaces with tailored wetting behavior.

Main Methods:

• Solving an augmented Young–Laplace equation with a disjoining pressure term.
• Utilizing a natural parameterization of the Young–Laplace equation for interfaces.
• Comparing results with mesoscopic lattice Boltzmann simulations.

Main Results:

• Accurate computation of equilibrium droplet shapes on millimeter-sized patterned surfaces.
• Negligible computational cost for determining wetting transition energy barriers.
• Validation of the method against established lattice Boltzmann simulations.

Conclusions:

• The developed continuum-level analysis offers a computationally efficient alternative for wetting simulations.
• The method is applicable to complex and unstructured patterned surfaces.
• This approach facilitates the optimization of surface designs for desired wetting properties.