  For a film of liquid on a solid surface, the binding potential $g(h)$ gives
the free energy as a function of the film thickness $h$ and also the closely
related structural disjoining pressure $\Pi = - \partial g / \partial h$. The
wetting behaviour of the liquid is encoded in the binding potential and the
equilibrium film thickness corresponds to the value at the minimum of $g(h)$.
Here, the method we developed in [J. Chem. Phys. 142, 074702 (2015)], and
applied with a simple discrete lattice-gas model, is used with continuum
density functional theory (DFT) to calculate the binding potential for a
Lennard-Jones fluid and other simple liquids. The DFT used is based on
fundamental measure theory and so incorporates the influence of the layered
packing of molecules at the surface and the corresponding oscillatory density
profile. The binding potential is frequently input in mesoscale models from
which liquid drop shapes and even dynamics can be calculated. Here we show that
the equilibrium droplet profiles calculated using the mesoscale theory are in
good agreement with the profiles calculated directly from the microscopic DFT.
For liquids composed of particles where the range of the attraction is much
less than the diameter of the particles, we find that at low temperatures
$g(h)$ decays in an oscillatory fashion with increasing $h$, leading to highly
structured terraced liquid droplets.
