Reentrant phase transitions in multicomponent liquid mixtures

Abstract

A comprehensive review of the recent developments regarding the phenomenon of reentrant phase transitions (RPT) in binary and multicomponent liquid mixtures is presented. This phenomenon has been observed in amazingly diverse systems. A brief account of the analytical efforts to model the reentrant miscibility - especially in the limit of vanishing reentrance marked by a double critical point (DCP) - is provided. A critical assessment of the initial experimental investigations concerning RPT is made and the factors which impede its proper understanding are identified. The approach to double criticality is rationalized by a crossover of the Ising-like critical exponents from their doubled to single limit, with the doubled region prevailing in the entire temperature range at DCP. A range of unexplored problems, which can be readily addressed by using reentrant multicomponent liquid mixtures, is discussed.