Article
Article
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Wetting (physical chemistry)
Article By:
Lipowsky, Reinhard Abteilung Theorie, Max-Planck-Institut of Colloids and Interfaces, Golm, Germany.
Last reviewed:2001
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.YB011050
Wetting and dewetting phenomena occur if a liquid is in contact with another phase, typically a solid substrate. If the substrate exerts an attractive force on the liquid molecules, the surface is lyophilic and the liquid attains a relatively large contact area with the substrate surface; this is the case of wetting. Dewetting corresponds to the situation in which the substrate is lyophobic and exerts a repulsive force onto the liquid; the liquid retracts from the surface, and there is relatively little contact area between liquid and substrate.
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