Artigo Revisado por pares

Interfacial and wetting behaviour of phase-separating ultrasoft mixtures

2011; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 109; Issue: 7-10 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/00268976.2010.548344

ISSN

1362-3028

Autores

Manuél Camargo, Christos N. Likos,

Tópico(s)

Theoretical and Computational Physics

Resumo

Abstract We apply density functional theory to study the interfacial properties of a phase-separating binary fluid of ultrasoft particles, whose interaction potentials belong to the family of the so-called generalized exponential models (GEM). By using the formalism of the density functional theory within the mean-field approximation, we investigate the equilibrium density profiles for each component at the free interface as well as at a repulsive, flat wall. We show that the studied system can lead to first-order wetting transition which is characterized by a layering-like behaviour due to the clustering properties of GEM particles. Keywords: wetting transitionclusteringultrasoft potentialdensity functional theory Acknowledgements It is a great pleasure to dedicate this article to Bob Evans on the occasion of his 65th birthday. This work has been supported by the project ITN-234810-COMPLOIDS (Marie Curie Training Network, EU). M.C. is grateful to UAN-ICETEX-Colciencias (Colombia) and DAAD (Germany) for a PhD fellowship through the ALECOL Program. Notes Note 1. A more rigorous procedure involves the evaluation of the two branches of solutions which minimize the grand potential, i.e. one branch for a thin adsorbed film and other for a thick adsorbed film. The points where the two branch intersect determine the pre-wetting line Citation23,Citation24.

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