Figure 4.

Thermodynamic model: transition from adhesion to wetting to engulfment of nanoparticles, based on eq 4. The red dashed line represents the adhesion to wetting transition for θ_y = 45°, for the case without line tension (l_τ = 0). The gray solid lines incorporate line tension effects for l_τ/l_ec = 10^–5, 10^–4, and 10^–3 from left to right. The corresponding circles represent the critical nanoparticle diameter for engulfment given by eq 6. The inset shows a nanoparticle in and out of contact with a polymer film and relevant geometric variables. The difference in energy between the two states leads to eq 1.