Surface-directed spinodal decomposition on morphologically patterned substrates

Surface-directed spinodal decomposition in binary fluid mixtures.

We consider the phase separation of binary fluids in contact with a surface, which is preferentially wetted by one of the components of the mixture. We review the results available for this problem and present numerical results obtained using a mesoscopic level simulation technique for the three-dimensional problem.

Minimal model of directed cell motility on patterned substrates.

Crawling cell motility is vital to many biological processes such as wound healing and the immune response. Using a minimal model we investigate the effects of patterned substrate adhesiveness and biophysical cell parameters on the direction of cell motion. We show that cells with low adhesion site formation rates may move perpendicular to adhesive stripes while those with high adhesion site fo...

Theory of directed nucleation of strained islands on patterned substrates.

We develop a theoretical model to elucidate the nucleation of strained islands on patterned substrates. We show that island nucleation is directed to the preferred sites by a much lower energy barrier and smaller critical size. Strain relaxation directs island nucleation to the bottom of a pit rather than the top of a ridge as commonly perceived, while large surface energy anisotropy favors nuc...

Buckle delamination on patterned substrates

Lithographic techniques applied to a substrate prior to film deposition can create areas of low interface adhesion surrounded by regions of high adhesion. If the film is under compression and if buckle delamination is nucleated, conditions can be controlled such that delaminations are confined to the patterned areas of low adhesion. When the area of low adhesion is a strip, the width of the str...

Spinodal decomposition in microemulsions