Benetzung auf stukturierten Substraten und Elektrowetting

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Stephan Herminghaus
• Subject Area: Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics
• Term: from 1998 to 2005
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5203738

The behaviour of liquids on inhomogeneous substrates is of great interest for quite a number of reasons, the most obvious of which being the fact that all real surfaces are inhomogeneous. Furthermore, the study of wetting of patterned substrates yields insight into fundamental interaction mechanisms of wetting. This project concentrates on the study of surfaces the wettability of which has been artificially patterned as to its wettability, but have no, or only small, topographic structure. With patterns in the sub-micron regime, we can determine the three-phase contact line tension for the first time unambiguously, employing two complementary analysis techniques. The wetting of the patterned surface by a hard-spheres model fluid is interesting to study also on larger scales, since the diameter of these particles is about one order of magnitude larger than molecules of other liquids. The advantage of a system like that is its superior theoretical tractability.

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 1052: Benetzung und Strukturbildung an Grenzflächen
• Participating Person: Professor Dr. Frieder Mugele