Packing effects in the adsorption at the liquid-solid interface

Abstract

We report a study of the dense hard-sphere fluid near a wall with a square well adsorbing potential. We use Monte Carlo simulations, integral equations and density functional theory in the smoothed-density approximation to determine the structure of the fluid as a function of the wall potential. We propose a theory which relates the properties of the adsorbed layer to those of an effective 2-d fluid which takes into account the presence of the bulk liquid. Some consequences for the interpretation of adsorption isotherms at the liquid-solid interface are discussed.