Tracking three-phase coexistences in binary mixtures of hard plates and spheres

The stability of demixing phase transition in binary mixtures of hard plates (with thickness L and diameter D) and hard spheres (with diameter σ) is studied by means of Parsons-Lee theory. The isotropic-isotropic demixing, which is found in mixtures of large spheres and small plates, is very likely...

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Veröffentlicht in:The Journal of chemical physics 2016-02, Vol.144 (7), p.074902-074902
Hauptverfasser: Aliabadi, Roohollah, Moradi, Mahmood, Varga, Szabolcs
Format: Artikel
Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:The stability of demixing phase transition in binary mixtures of hard plates (with thickness L and diameter D) and hard spheres (with diameter σ) is studied by means of Parsons-Lee theory. The isotropic-isotropic demixing, which is found in mixtures of large spheres and small plates, is very likely to be pre-empted by crystallization. In contrast, the nematic-nematic demixing, which is obtained in mixtures of large plates and small spheres, can be stabilized at low diameter ratios (σ/D) and aspect ratios (L/D). At intermediate values of σ/D, where the sizes of the components are similar, neither the isotropic-isotropic nor the nematic-nematic demixing can be stabilized, but a very strong fractionation takes place between a plate rich nematic and a sphere rich isotropic phases. Our results show that the excluded volume interactions are capable alone to explain the experimental observation of the nematic-nematic demixing, but they fail in the description of isotropic-isotropic one [M. Chen et al., Soft Matter 11, 5775 (2015)].
ISSN:0021-9606
1089-7690
DOI:10.1063/1.4941981