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Research Article

Capillary Adhesion in the Limit of Saturation: Thermodynamics, Self-Consistent Field Modeling and Experiment^†

Joris Sprakel,*^‡^§ Nicolaas A. M. Besseling,^‡ Martien A. Cohen Stuart,^‡ and Frans A. M. Leermakers^‡

Laboratory of Physical Chemistry and Colloid Science, Wageningen University, Dreijenplein 6, 6703 HB Wageningen, the Netherlands, and Dutch Polymer Institute (DPI), P.O. Box 902, 5600 AX Eindhoven, The Netherlands

Langmuir, 2008, 24 (4), pp 1308–1317

DOI: 10.1021/la702222f

Publication Date (Web): November 17, 2007

†

Part of the Molecular and Surface Forces special issue.

Corresponding author. Tel: +31-317-485595. E-mail: joris.sprakel@ wur.nl.

‡

Wageningen University.

Dutch Polymer Institute (DPI).

Abstract

We introduce a simple thermodynamic argument for capillary adhesion forces, for various geometries, in the limit of saturation of the bulk phase. For one specific geometry (i.e., the sphere−plate geometry such as that found in the colloidal probe AFM technique), we provide evidence of the validity of our model by comparison with experiment and self-consistent field calculations. With this latter numerical technique, we also discuss deviations from the macroscopic argument both when the system is moved away from saturation and when the capillary bridge becomes so small that macroscopic thermodynamics is no longer accurate.

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