Coalescence induced domain growth near a wall during spinodal decomposition

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Abstract
We propose a model whereby the average size of domains in a binary mixture undergoing spinodal decomposition near a wall can achieve growth exponents much larger than the usual bulk value of 1/3. The accelerated growth is associated with the nonwetting phase coarsening anisotropically against a wall coated with the wetting phase. The larger exponents arise from the coupling of domain coalescence with Lifshitz-Slyozov type growth, modified to include the geometric constraint of growth near a wall. We include experimental tests of these ideas.