Surface-directed spinodal decomposition: a molecular dynamics study

Abstract

We use molecular dynamics simulations to study surface-directed spinodal decomposition in unstable binary AB fluid mixtures at wetting surfaces. The thickness of the wetting layer R₁ grows with time t as a power law (R₁∼t^θ). We find that hydrodynamic effects result in a crossover of the growth exponent from θ≃1/3 to 1. We also present results for the layerwise correlation functions and domain length scales.