Abstract
A fluid consisting of solid particles that is confined within a narrow channel undergoes changes in, for example, its thermodynamic properties. Researchers investigate the density fluctuations and isothermal compressibilities of spherical silica particles suspended in a solvent that is subjected to nanoscopic confinement.
Highlights
Nanoscopic confinement of simple fluids, which is confinement of such fluids between solid surfaces at separations of a few particle diameters, is known to strongly modify the fluids’ dynamic and thermodynamic properties [1,2]
We address this issue by probing density profiles and structure factors of hard-sphere fluids in various narrow slits, using x-ray scattering from colloid-filled nanofluidic containers and integral-equation-based statistical mechanics at the level of pair distributions for inhomogeneous fluids
We demonstrate that density fluctuations and isothermal compressibilities in confined fluids can be obtained experimentally from the long-wavelength limit of the structure factor, providing a formally exact and experimentally accessible connection between microscopic structure and macroscopic, thermodynamic properties
Summary
Nanoscopic confinement of simple fluids, which is confinement of such fluids between solid surfaces at separations of a few particle diameters, is known to strongly modify the fluids’ dynamic and thermodynamic properties [1,2]. The rationale for these “confinement phenomena” is as follows. Spatial confinement induces microscopic ordering of the fluid constituents because of competing packing constraints imposed by both the confining surfaces and the other particles in the system.
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