Diffusion-limited growth of wetting layers.

In binary liquid mixtures, the growth of wetting layers can be limited by diffusion. At complete wetting, the thickness l of the wetting layer is predicted to grow as l(t)=A(*)t(theta) for large times t with theta = 1/8 and 1/10 for nonretarded and retarded van der Waals forces. Surprisingly, the amplitude A(*) is found to increase near the consolute point of the mixture. An estimate of its magnitude indicates that this growth behavior should be accessible to experiments.