Research Projects

Spinodal decomposition in binary mixtures results in spontaneous phase segregation when thermodynamically unstable. Surface-directed spinodal decomposition (SDSD) is characterized by a wall with a preferential attraction towards a particular component, creating additional strain on the morphology at the surface. The first zero-crossing of the SDSD profile defines the wetting-layer thickness, indicating power-law growth behavior with different exponents implying distinct transport mechanisms. Hydrodynamics plays an important role in fluids, as seen in the early-time fast mode and two universal growths due to viscous-hydrodynamics and inertia at late times. Most coarse-grained studies focused on the early-time potential-dependent regime and LS growth with a diffusive model. However, the discovery of the transient fast-mode kinetics in phase-separating fluids has caused confusion. A systematic atomistic simulation is proposed to explore the influence of hydrodynamics on potential-dependent and potential-independent growth regimes at all times. The proposed simulation will be the first to access all these regimes in the presence of long-ranged and short-ranged surface fields. The study also plans to study the effects of temperature quench and variation of composition ratio on wetting kinetics and coarsening domains. SDSD is crucial for producing targeted transient morphologies in systems like polymer mixtures and thin films by introducing nano-sized filler particles and chemically- or morphologically-patterned surfaces. The study will implement different patterns in the atomistic simulations, studying the role of mixture composition, velocity fields, and confinements.