Controlling the wetting transitions of nanoparticles on nanopatterned substrates using an electric current

We study the behavior of a nanoparticle under electromigration on a nanopatterned surface. We show that electromigration allows one to control the wetting transitions of the nanoparticle. Suitable surface electromigration conditions to observe these transitions can be achieved with electric currents larger than 1 μA. Using kinetic Monte Carlo simulations and analytical modeling, we determine the phase diagram of the wetting states, showing how wetting multistability is affected by electromigration. In addition, we show that the dynamics of the transitions is controlled by surface diffusion in our simulations, and we provide a quantitative expression for the transition time.