Entropy driven demixing in binary mixtures of hard convex bodies: influence of molecular geometry

Abstract

The recently introduced approach (Bosetti, H., and Perera, A., 2001, Phys. Rev. E, 63, 021206) for studying entropy driven demixing in binary mixtures of hard convex bodies is applied here to analyse the influence of molecular geometrical factors such as shape and size ratio on isotropic fluid-fluid phase separation. The theory is shown to be self-consistent, in the sense that it allows the calculation of both the binodal and the spinodal of the demixing, and both curves merge at the same lower consolute point. In the case of 3-dimensional fluids, demixing is usually allowed for sufficiently thick solutes, provided no orientational ordering destabilizes the mixture. Fluid—fluid demixing is explicitly forbidden in cases of equal breadth of the solute and the solvent molecules, regardless of the aspect ratio of both particles. In particular, mixtures of prolate and oblate particles will demix more easily. The influence of shape is more importantly seen at moderate elongations. Finally, within the present approximation, demixing is forbidden for binary mixtures of 2-dimensional fluids, irrespective of the shape of the bidimensional molecules.