Effects of an embedding bulk fluid on phase separation dynamics in a thin liquid film

¹  Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Tokyo Metropolitan University Tokyo 192-0397, Japan
²  Institut für Festkörperforschung, Forschungszentrum Jülich - D-52425 Jülich, Germany, EU

Corresponding author: komura@tmu.ac.jp

Received: 5 December 2009
Accepted: 23 February 2010

Abstract

Using dissipative-particle-dynamics simulations, we study the effects of an embedding bulk fluid on the phase separation dynamics in a thin planar liquid film. The domain growth exponent is altered from 2D to 3D behavior upon the addition of a bulk fluid, even though the phase separation occurs in 2D geometry. Correlated diffusion measurements in the film show that the presence of bulk fluid changes the nature of the longitudinal coupling diffusion coefficient from logarithmic to algebraic dependence of 1/s, where s is the distance between the two particles. This result, along with the scaling exponents, suggests that the phase separation takes place through the Brownian coagulation process.