Experimental examination of the phase transition of water on silica at 298 K

• Author(s) / Creator(s)

  • Saber, Sepehr
  • Narayanaswamy, Nagarajan
  • Ward, C. A.
  • Elliott, Janet A. W.

• The objective of this study was to investigate the prediction of the wetting characteristics obtained from the equilibrium adsorption analysis using the Zeta adsorption isotherm approach with an experimental study. Water vapor’s adsorption and wetting characteristics on a hydroxylated and nano-polished silica substrate were studied in near-equilibrium conditions at temperatures near 298 K. Using a UV–visible interferometer, water vapor adsorbate film thicknesses were measured and converted into amount adsorbed per unit area. The current results show that the wetting transition occurred at an average subcooling value of 0.39 K, less than the predicted value of 0.49 K. All the different experimental observations showed growth of film thickness as a function of subcooling value with a maximum film thickness of 12.6 nm. The analysis of the results further showed that the maximum stable film was in a metastable state that then condensed in a dropwise manner, if perturbed by increasing the subcooling. The study further revealed that the adsorbate is unstable after transitioning. The solid surface energy calculated by including the near-equilibrium observations was comparable and close to that of the equilibrium studies, thus supporting solid surface energy as a material property.

• Date created

  2023-05-30

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Phase transitions
  • Thermodynamic properties
  • Interferometry
  • Thermocouples
  • Thin films
  • Nanomaterials
  • Adsorption isotherm
  • Silicates
  • Regression analysis
  • Statistical thermodynamics

• Type of Item

  Article (Published)

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-jq0a-ry46

• License

  This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and AIP Publishing. This article appeared in “Sepehr Saber, Nagarajan Narayanaswamy, C. A. Ward, Janet A. W. Elliott; Experimental examination of the phase transition of water on silica at 298 K. J. Chem. Phys. 28 May 2023; 158 (20): 204712.” and may be found at https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0145932.