(76b) Investigating the phase behavior of fluids in the vicinity of a surface

Fluids in the presence of one or more surfaces exhibit a rich variety of phase transitions that are absent in bulk fluids. Examples include wetting, prewetting, layering, and capillary condensation transitions. Even the simplest of systems display a broad range of phase behavior, with surface phase diagrams depending qualitatively upon the relative strengths and ranges of the fluid-fluid and fluid-substrate interactions and the structural characteristics of the substrate. In this presentation, we describe our recent efforts aimed towards obtaining a better understanding of surface phase behavior through the use of molecular simulation.