Nanocapillarity and Liquid Bridge-Mediated Force between Colloidal Nanoparticles

In this work, we probe the concept of interface tension for ultrathin adsorbed liquid films on the nanoscale by studying the surface fluctuations of films down to the monolayer. Our results show that the spectrum of film height fluctuations of a liquid-vapor surface may be extended to ultrathin films provided we take into account the interactions of the substrate with the surface. Global fluctuations of the film height are described in terms of disjoining pressure, whereas surface deformations that are proportional to the interface area are accounted for by a film thickness-dependent surface tension. As a proof of concept, we model the capillary forces between colloidal nanoparticles held together by liquid bridges. Our results indicate that the classical equations for capillarity follow very precisely down to the nanoscale provided we account for the film height dependence of the surface tension.