Wall-Confined Spreading Dynamics on the Surface of Surfactant Solution.

A liquid spreading over another is a universal physical process in the nature, which was investigated by the scaling law to reveal the underlying mechanical mechanism over the decades. However, scaling laws are restricted to piecewise physical stages, respectively. It is a challenge to present a full physical picture for a dynamic spreading process covering a wide-spectrum speed. We propose a general wall-confined spreading dynamics (WCSD) model originating from molecular kinetic theory (MKT). It creatively illustrates the order and domination between driving energy and energy dissipation (or transfer) using a phase diagram according to theory and experiments. This work reveals the deep mechanical mechanism of WCSD which provides an indirect guidance on the solution processing methods of two-dimensional molecular crystals (2DMCs) growth.