Liquid flow in wetting layers on rough substrates

Department of Applied Physics, University of Ulm - D-89069 Ulm, Germany

Received: 19 March 2001
Accepted: 13 June 2001

Abstract

We investigate experimentally the lateral flow in thin liquid adsorbate films on substrates with variable roughness. We find that, as a consequence of nanoscale roughness, the ability of the films to equilibrate lateral fluctuations depends remarkably weakly on film thickness. Our results suggest that it is a quite general feature of adsorbate films on "real" surfaces. This is of substantial importance for all systems in which transport in adsorbed layers plays a role.