Wetting films on chemically heterogeneous substrates

Abstract

Based on a microscopic density functional theory, we investigate the morphology of thin liquid-like wetting films adsorbed on substrates endowed with well-defined chemical heterogeneities. As paradigmatic cases we focus on a single chemical step and on a single stripe. In view of applications in microfluidics, the accuracy of guiding liquids by chemical microchannels is discussed. Finally we give a general prescription of how to investigate theoretically the wetting properties of substrates with arbitrary chemical structures.