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Observation of short-range critical wetting

Nature volume 400, pages 737–739 (1999)Cite this article

Abstract

Mean-field theory correctly predicts the critical behaviour of systems close to a phase transition, provided that fluctuations can be neglected. Fluctuations, however, become important if the dimensionality of the system is lower than a certain upper critical dimension. For such systems, it is necessary to use renormalization-group methods to describe the critical behaviour. Investigation of three-dimensional systems in which the upper critical dimension is also three can therefore provide a probe of the way in which mean-field theory breaks down when fluctuations become important1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12. An important example is the critical wetting transition that is predicted1,2 to occur in systems in which long-range forces are negligible, involving a continuous and reversible increase in the thickness of an adsorbed film. Here we present experimental observations of the short-range wetting transition close to the critical point in methanol–alkane binary liquid mixtures. We observe second-order, critical wetting for nonane (as characterized by the surface specific-heat exponent). The measured value is consistent with the predictions of mean-field theory, but disagrees strongly with renormalization-group calculations, which predict1,2,3,4 non-universal behaviour for this transition. The reasons for the apparent failure of the renormalization-group approach remain unclear; further experiments are needed to investigate the effects of fluctuations in more detail.

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Figure 1: Photographs of methanol droplets at the liquid–vapour interfaces of the different n-alkanes at T ≈ 20?°C (for C6, T ≈ 3?°C, as the wetting transition has already taken place at room temperature).
Figure 2: Contact angles of methanol on the n-alkanes.
Figure 3: Equilibrium wetting film thickness of methanol.
Figure 4: Contact angles of methanol on nonane (C9) and undecane (C11).

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Acknowledgements

We thank E. Brézin, M. Bonn, C. Boulter, A. Parry and J. Indekeu for discussions. This work was supported by the EC.

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  1. Laboratoire de Physique Statistique de l'ENS, UMR 8550 du CNRS, associé aux universités Paris VI et Paris VII 24 rue Lhomond, Paris, cedex 05, 75231, France

    D. Ross, D. Bonn & J. Meunier

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Correspondence to D. Ross.

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Ross, D., Bonn, D. & Meunier, J. Observation of short-range critical wetting. Nature 400, 737–739 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/23425

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