Density functional model of surfactant mesostructures

A molecular theory of liquid interfaces

We propose a site site generalization of the Lovett-Mow-Buff-Wertheim integro-differential equation for the one-particle density distributions to polyatomic fluids. The method provides microscopic description of liquid interfaces of molecular fluids and solutions. It uses the inhomogeneous site-site direct correlation function of molecular fluid consistently constructed by nonlinear interpolation between the homogeneous ones. The site site correlations of the coexisting bulk phases are obtained from the reference interaction site model (RISM) integral equation with our closure approximation. For illustration, we calculated the structure of the planar liquid-vapor as well as liquid-liquid interfaces of n-hexane and methanol at ambient conditions.

Liquid-vapor interfaces in XY -spin fluids: an inhomogeneous anisotropic integral-equation approach

An integral-equation approach is developed to study interfacial properties of anisotropic fluids with planar spins in the presence of an external magnetic field. The approach is based on the coupled set of the Lovett-Mou-Buff-Wertheim integro-differential equation for the inhomogeneous anisotropic one-particle density and the Ornstein-Zernike equation for the orientationally dependent two-particle correlation functions. Using the proposed inhomogeneous angle-harmonics expansion formalism we show that these integral equations can be reduced to a much simpler form similar to that inherent for a system of isotropic fluids. The interfacial orientationally dependent direct correlation function can be consistently constructed by means of a nonlinear interpolation via its values obtained in the coexisting anisotropic bulk phases. A soft mean spherical approximation is employed for the closure relation. This has allowed us to solve the complicated integral equations in the situation when both spatial inhomogeneity and orientational anisotropy are present simultaneously. The approach introduced is applied to an XY fluid model with ferromagnetic spin interactions. As a result, the density-orientation and magnetization profiles at the liquid-vapor interfaces are calculated in a wide range of temperatures up to subcritical regions. The influence of the external field on the microscopic structure of the interfaces and the surface tension is also analyzed in detail.

Liquid-vapor and liquid-liquid interfaces in Ising fluids: An integral equation approach

The microscopic structure and thermodynamic properties of liquid-vapor and liquid-liquid interfaces in Ising fluids are studied using an integral equation approach. The calculations are performed in the absence and presence of an external magnetic field by solving the corresponding set of Lovett-Mou-Buff-Wertheim integrodifferential equations for the one-particle density distribution functions. The two-particle inhomogeneous direct correlation functions are consistently constructed by nonlinear interpolation between the bulk ones. The bulk correlation functions of the coexisting phases are obtained from the Ornstein-Zernike equations with a modified soft mean spherical approximation for the closure relation. As a result, the density and magnetization profiles at liquid-vapor and liquid-liquid interfaces as well as the surface tension and adsorption coefficients are evaluated in a wide temperature range including subcritical regions. The influence of an external magnetic field on the liquid-vapor interfaces is also considered.

Predicting the phases of a two-dimensional hard-rod system with real-space self-consistent field theory

Polymer self-consistent field theory numerical tools are applied to a two-dimensional hard-rod colloidal system. Rods are represented through an interaction site model density functional theory that is derived and expressed from a self-consistent field theory perspective. A weighted density approximation is used within the density functional theory, and the phase space is sampled without bias for any particular morphology. A completely ordered crystal phase is found as well as a liquid crystal state.

Criticality of a liquid–vapor interface from an inhomogeneous integral equation theory

A microscopic theory is developed to study the liquid-vapor interfacial properties of simple fluids with ab initio treatment of the inhomogeneous two-body correlation functions, without any interpolation. It consists of the inhomogeneous Ornstein-Zernike equation coupled with the Duh-Henderson-Verlet closure and the Lovett-Mou-Buff-Wertheim equation. For the liquid-vapor interface of the Lennard-Jones fluid, we obtained the density profile and the surface tension, as well as their critical behaviour. In particular, we identified non-classical critical exponents. The theory accurately predicts the phase diagram and the interfacial properties in a very good agreement with simulations. We also showed that the method leads to true capillary-wave asymptotics in the macroscopic limit.

Classical density functional study of mixed amphiphile mesostructures

This paper presents a density functional study of mixed amphiphile solutions. The amphiphiles are modeled using four to seven fused hard spheres where the connectivity is such that the amphiphiles have a proper head group. We present calculations of lamellar and vesicle density distributions, paying particular attention to the morphology of the bilayer structures.

Density functional theory for semiflexible and cyclic polyatomic fluids

The effects of bond angle and chain stiffness on the structures of semiflexible polyatomic fluids are investigated by incorporating the bending potential into a density functional theory [Y. X. Yu and J. Z. Wu, J. Chem. Phys. 117, 2368 (2002)] that combines a modified fundamental measure theory for the excluded-volume effects and the first-order thermodynamics perturbation theory for the chain connectivity. The refined density functional theory faithfully reproduces the density profiles and conformational properties of a variety of triatomic fluids near a hard wall in which extensive Monte Carlo simulation data are available. In particular, the theory is able to capture the structures of rigid cyclic trimers where all segments are identical. The variation of local density profiles with respect to the chain length of confined polyatomic fluids is also explored. For quadratomic fluids confined in slit pores, the density profile of the middle segments exhibits novel double peaks that are absent in a fully flexible chain model. In addition, the density functional theory is applied to predicting the conformational properties and adsorption behavior of heterogeneous triatomic fluids of type "ABB" mimicking surfactant molecules. The competition between surface adsorption and self-association of trimers consisting of surface active and self-binding "A" segments and neutral "B" segment is explored.