https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2008-00748-1
Molecular dynamics of fluids and droplets in patterned nanochannels
Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Aleja Lotników 32/46, 02-668 Warsaw, Poland
Corresponding author: mc@ifpan.edu.pl
Molecular dynamics studies of chain molecule fluids in nanochannels reveal new kinds of stationary flows when the walls of the channel are patterned chemically. In the single-fluid case, the patterning is shown to give rise to spatial switching between Poiseuille-like and plug-flow behaviours. In the two-fluid case, such that the two immiscible fluids wet different patches of a chemically patterned channel, the velocity field of the individual components is modulated in a way that is phase shifted relative to the single-fluid case. When the channel is homogeneous and wetting to one fluid component but non-wetting to the other then the resulting coating of the channel walls provides dissipation and thus stabilises flow of the other component. Wettability and geometrical patterning of substrates gives rise to a lotus-like effect in a rolling motion of nanodroplets along the substrate.
© EDP Sciences, Springer-Verlag, 2008
