Wertheim's Thermodynamic Perturbation Theory Research Articles

Generic low-density corrections to the equation of state of chain molecules with repulsive intermolecular forces.

Molecular-based equations of state for describing the thermodynamics of chain molecules are often based on mean-field like arguments that reduce the problem of describing the interactions between chains to a simpler one involving only nonbonded monomers. While for dense liquids such arguments are known to work well, at low density they are typically less appropriate due to an incomplete description of the effect of chain connectivity on the local environment of the chains' monomer segments. To address this issue, we develop three semi-empirical approaches that significantly improve the thermodynamic description of chain molecules at low density. The approaches are developed for chain molecules with repulsive intermolecular forces; therefore, they could be used as reference models for developing equations of the state of real fluids based on perturbation theory. All three approaches are extensions of Wertheim's first-order thermodynamic perturbation theory (TPT1) for polymerization. The first model, referred to as TPT1-v, incorporates a second-virial correction that is scaled to zero at liquid-like densities. The second model, referred to as TPT1-y, introduces a Helmholtz-energy contribution to account for correlations between next-nearest-neighbor segments within chain molecules. The third approach, called TPT-E, directly modifies TPT1 without utilizing an additional Helmholtz energy contribution. By employing TPT1 at the core of these approaches, we ensure an accurate description of mixtures and enable a seamless extension from chains of tangentially bonded hard-sphere segments of equal size to hetero-segmented chains, fused chains, and chains of soft repulsive segments (which are influenced by temperature). The low-density corrections implemented in TPT1 are designed to preserve these good characteristics, as confirmed through comparisons with novel molecular simulation results for the pressure of various chain fluids. TPT1-v exhibits excellent transferability across different chain types, but it relies on knowing the second virial coefficient of the chain molecules, which is non-trivial to obtain and determined here using Monte Carlo simulation. The TPT1-y model, on the other hand, achieves comparable accuracy to TPT1-v while being fully predictive, requiring no input besides the geometry of the chain molecules.

Modeling of polymer-enzyme conjugates formation: Thermodynamic perturbation theory and computer simulations

A simple model for the formation of the polymer-enzyme conjugates has been proposed and described using corresponding modification of the Wertheim's first-order thermodynamic perturbation theory (TPT) for the system of associating chain molecules. A set of computer simulation data for the polymer chains containing various number of functional groups was generated and used to testify the accuracy of the theoretical results. Predictions of the present theoretical approach are more accurate than that of the conventional TPT and are in a very good agreement with the computer simulation data. In particular, the theory is able to account for the difference in the position of the polymer functional groups along its backbone.

Modelling the solid–liquid–vapour phase behaviour of n-alkanes in a TPT-1 framework

We study the global phase behaviour of n-alkanes applying Wertheim's first order thermodynamic perturbation theory (TPT1). The molecules are modelled as homonuclear chains comprised of m freely jointed spherical segments interacting via the Lennard-Jones potential. Vega et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 116, 17 (2002)] have shown that the TPT1 is suitable to treat solid phases as well as fluid phases when model chains are considered, but that the adoption of a fully flexible chain model leads to the under-prediction of triple point temperatures and overestimation of the fluid ranges in comparison to experiment. Here, we propose a model in which a different number of segments are used to treat the fluid and the solid phase. The number of segments used to model the molecules in the fluid phase , and the LJ monomer potential parameters σ and ε are taken from published soft-SAFT values, whereas in the case of the solid phase a reduced temperature-dependent effective chain length is determined through a minimisation between theoretical and experimental liquid-solid phase equilibrium data. We refer to this model as effective-solid TPT1 (es-TPT1). We use the model proposed to calculate the solid–liquid–vapour phase diagrams of several n-alkanes and compare with experimental data. In the approach proposed, the conformation of chains in the solid phase is decoupled from the fluid phase, and an excellent description of the melting properties, as well as accurate predictions of the triple point temperatures for the n-alkanes examined is obtained. This simple solution provides an avenue to model the solid–liquid–vapour phase behaviour of other real substances in a TPT1 framework, and hence within the SAFT family of equations.

Statistical-mechanical liquid theories reproduce anomalous thermodynamic properties of explicit two-dimensional water models.

We have developed an analytical theory for a simple model of liquid water. We apply Wertheim's thermodynamic perturbation theory (TPT) and integral equation theory (IET) for associative liquids to the rose model, which is among the simplest models of water. The particles interact through rose potentials for orientation dependent pairwise interactions. Modifying both the shape and range of a three-petal rose function, we construct an efficient and dynamical mimic of the two-dimensional (2D) Mercedes-Benz (MB) water model. The particles in 2D MB are 2D Lennard-Jones disks with three hydrogen bonding arms arranged symmetrically, resembling the Mercedes-Benz logo. Both models qualitatively predict both the anomalous properties of pure water and the anomalous solvation thermodynamics of nonpolar molecules. The IET is based on the orientationally averaged version of the Ornstein-Zernike equation. This is one of the main approximations in the present work. IET correctly predicts the pair correlation functions at high temperatures. Both TPT and IET are in semi-quantitative agreement with the Monte Carlo values of the molar volume, isothermal compressibility, thermal expansion coefficient, and heat capacity. A major advantage of these theories is that they require orders of magnitude less computer time than the Monte Carlo simulations.

Extended Wertheim theory predicts the anomalous chain length distributions of divalent patchy particles under extreme confinement.

Colloidal patchy particles with divalent attractive interaction can self-assemble into linear polymer chains. Their equilibrium properties in 2D and 3D are well described by Wertheim's thermodynamic perturbation theory, which predicts a well-defined, exponentially decaying equilibrium chain length distribution. In experimental realizations, due to gravity, particles sediment to the bottom of the suspension, forming a monolayer of particles with a gravitational height smaller than the particle diameter. In accordance with experiments, an anomalously high monomer concentration is observed in simulations, which is not well understood. To account for this observation, we interpret polymerization as taking place in a highly confined quasi-2D plane and extend the Wertheim thermodynamic perturbation theory by defining additional reaction constants as functions of chain length. We derive the theory, test it on simple square well potentials, and apply it to the experimental case of synthetic colloidal patchy particles immersed in a binary liquid mixture, which are described by an accurate effective critical Casimir patchy particle potential. The important interaction parameters entering the theory are explicitly computed using the integral method in combination with Monte Carlo sampling. Without any adjustable parameter, the predictions of the chain length distribution are in excellent agreement with explicit simulations of self-assembling particles. We discuss the generality of the approach and its application range.

Thermodynamic perturbation theory of square-well dimers of variable width

We develop Wertheim's Thermodynamic Perturbation Theory, TPT, to treat fluid dimers made of square-well, SW, atoms [M.S. Wertheim, J. Chem. Phys. 85, 2929 (1986)]. In this, we follow the general scheme provided by the Statistical Associating Fluid Theory, SAFT [W. G. Chapman et al., Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 29, 2709 (1990)]. The theoretical results are calibrated by dealing with the dimer with dimensionless SW range , and then considering . The TPT-SAFT free energy contains two essential contributions: a SW atomic term and a dimerisation term. The SW atomic term is taken to fourth-order in a high-temperature expansion, HTE. The dimerisation contribution is analysed to determine the extent to which Wertheim's approach accounts correctly for the change in SW free energy. This contribution relies on the cavity function of two particles at contact, , that is expressed in terms of density, temperature and λ by correlations of published Monte Carlo data, implying a fourth-order semi-empirical HTE. The SW dimer fluid-phase behaviour is confronted with published Monte Carlo data. The TPT-SAFT here presented accounts very well for the one-phase and liquid-vapour coexistence properties, except for a small region around the critical point .

Equationof state and Helmholtz energy functional for fused heterosegmented hard chains.

Modern equationsof state for real nonspherical molecules are often based on Wertheim's first-order thermodynamic perturbation theory (TPT1). A major drawback of TPT1 is that it assumes tangentially bonded spheres. In this work, we develop a Helmholtz energy functional for systems comprising hard heterosegmented chains with arbitrary bond lengths. This is achieved by using hard-sphere fragments (i.e., hard spheres with spherical caps removed at the intersection to their neighbors) as monomers as opposed to full hard spheres. The model is written as a Helmholtz energy functional for inhomogeneous systems and the equationof state for a homogeneous system is determined as a special case. We thereby obtain an equationof state that can be used as a reference to develop statistical associating fluid theory models that more accurately describe the thermodynamic properties of nonspherical molecules. The model is validated against molecular simulation results of bulk pressures and density profiles in slit pores. For the bulk pressures, we show that the equationof state is in excellent agreement with results from molecular simulation for dimers, trimers, and chains of up to 20 segments. The density profiles of individual segments of the chains are regarded in slit pores. Some deviations of the theory from results of molecular simulations are observed for strongly fused chains. Overall, however, good agreement is found for inhomogeneous systems.

Parameterization of a RTPT Association Activity Coefficient Model using Spectroscopic Data

Self-associating species exhibit highly nonideal vapor-liquid phase behavior in many mixtures, which is challenging to model. The most successful models, such as the statistical associating fluid theory (SAFT) equations, are based on Wertheim's first thermodynamic perturbation theory (TPT-1). However, despite its success, the traditional TPT-1 implementations of SAFT lack the requisite flexibility to account for the cooperative effects of hydrogen bonding observed in alcohol + hydrocarbon systems. The resummed thermodynamic perturbation theory (RTPT) provides an improved representation of these systems by considering hydrogen bond cooperativity. While more robust than its TPT-1 predecessor, RTPT has only been validated against computer simulations. In this work, we develop a form of the RTPT association contribution to the activity coefficient and fit RTPT parameters to experimental infrared spectroscopic data. The agreement between the RTPT model and the experimental data is striking despite requiring only one additional parameter compared to TPT-1. Calculated enthalpies indicate the occurrence of positive hydrogen bond cooperativity in all of the systems examined. Association constants fitted to the spectroscopic data are used to calculate activity coefficient contributions using a Flory combinatorial term. For completeness, regressions of vapor-liquid equilibrium data are included and utilize a non-random two-liquid (NRTL) model residual contribution.

Thermodynamic properties of hard-core attractive Yukawa fluids: Single-component monomers, binary mixtures and chains

The first three perturbation terms in the inverse temperature expansion of the Helmholtz free energy of hard-core attractive Yukawa (HCAY) monomer fluids have been determined from computer simulation for several values of the range parameter. The predictions of the resulting perturbation theory for the equation of state and the excess energy are shown to be in excellent agreement with simulation data that are also reported. The theory accurately predicts also the simulation data for the liquid–vapour coexistence densities reported in the literature. Extension of the theory to HCAY binary mixtures is achieved by mapping the mixture to an effective single-component fluid and successfully compared with the simulation data reported in this work. The combination of the theory for the single-component fluid of monomers with a version of the Wertheim thermodynamic perturbation theory (TPT) also provides satisfactory results for HCAY chain fluids.

Phase behavior and percolation in mixed patchy colloids.

Patchy colloids can be modeled as hard spheres with directional conical association sites. A variety of physical phenomena have been discovered in the patchy colloid system due to its short range and directional interactions. In this work, we combined a cluster distribution theory with generalized Flory and Stockmayer percolation theory to investigate the interplay between phase behavior and percolation for a binary patchy colloid system. The binary patchy colloid system consists of solute molecules with spherically symmetric bonding sites and solvents with two singly bondable sites. Wertheim's first order thermodynamic perturbation theory (TPT1) has been widely applied to the patchy colloids system and it has been combined with percolation theory to study the percolation threshold. However, due to assumptions behind TPT1, it will lose accuracy for a system in which particles have multiple association sites or multiply bondable sites. A recently proposed cluster distribution theory accurately models association at sites that can form multiple bonds. In this work, we investigate the comparison among cluster distribution theory, TPT1, and Monte Carlo simulation for the bonding states of this binary system in which cluster distribution theory shows excellent agreement with Monte Carlo simulation, while TPT1 has a large deviation with the simulation. Cluster distribution theory was further combined with the Flory and Stockmayer percolation theory to investigate the interplay between phase behavior and percolation threshold. We found that the reduced density and the relative bonding strength of solvent-solvent association and solute-solvent association are key factors for the phase behavior and percolation. Percolation can form at low density and low temperature in the vapor phase of this binary system, where the star-like molecules with 12 long branches formed.

Thermodynamic perturbation theory for rotational degrees of freedom. Application to the Mercedes–Benz water model

We developed a fast theory for studying how the rotational temperature (and rotational degrees of freedom) affects the properties of a simple model of liquid water. Wertheim's Thermodynamic perturbation theory (TPT) for associative liquids was applied to the Mercedes-Benz (MB) model. 2D MB model is one of the simplest models of water. The MB particles are modelled as Lennard-Jones disks with three hydrogen bonding arms arranged symmetrically as in the MB logo. We previously applied TPT to this model. We found that the physical properties were well reproduced by the theory. Here, we propose an modified version of the thermodynamic perturbation theory in which it is possible to treat rotational degrees of freedom by using different averaging then used before. By holding translational or rotational temperature constant and varying the other one, we investigate their effect on the properties of the simple water model and how well TPT reproduces computer simulation results. The new results are in good agreement with the Monte Carlo values of the pressure and energy. We also investigated how rotational temperature affects thermodynamic properties of the critical point. A major advantage of these theories is that they require orders of magnitude less computer time than the Monte Carlo simulations.

Wertheim's thermodynamic perturbation theory with double-bond association and its application to colloid-linker mixtures.

We extend Wertheim's thermodynamic perturbation theory to derive the association free energy of a multicomponent mixture for which double bonds can form between any two pairs of the molecules' arbitrary number of bonding sites. This generalization reduces in limiting cases to prior theories that restrict double bonding to at most one pair of sites per molecule. We apply the new theory to an associating mixture of colloidal particles ("colloids") and flexible chain molecules ("linkers"). The linkers have two functional end groups, each of which may bond to one of several sites on the colloids. Due to their flexibility, a significant fraction of linkers can "loop" with both ends bonding to sites on the same colloid instead of bridging sites on different colloids. We use the theory to show that the fraction of linkers in loops depends sensitively on the linker end-to-end distance relative to the colloid bonding-site distance, which suggests strategies for mitigating the loop formation that may otherwise hinder linker-mediated colloidal assembly.

A new study of associating inhomogeneous fluids with classical density functional theory

ABSTRACT A new density functional for the study of associating inhomogeneous fluids based on Wertheim's first-order thermodynamic perturbation theory is presented and compared to the most currently used associating density functionals. This functional is developed using the weighted density approximation in the range of association of hard spheres. We implement this functional within the framework of classical density functional theory together with modified fundamental measure theory to account for volume exclusion of hard spheres. This approach is tested against molecular simulations from literature of pure associating hard spheres and mixtures of non-associationg and associating hard spheres with different number of bonding sites close to a hard uniform wall. Furthermore, we compare and review our results with the performance of associating functionals from literature, one based on fundamental measure theory and the inhomogeneous version of Wertheim's perturbation theory. Results obtained with classical DFT and the three functionals show excellent agreement with molecular simulations in systems with one hard wall. For the cases of small pores where only one or two layers of fluid are allowed discrepancies between results with classical DFT and molecular simulations were found.

Patchy particles at a hard wall: Orientation-dependent bonding.

The well-known and widely used Wertheim thermodynamic perturbation theory (TPT) of associating fluids averages over the orientational dependence of the bonding interactions. For this reason, density functional theories based on the otherwise very successful TPT have been unable to describe the structure of patchy particle fluids at hard walls, when the coupling of positional and orientational degrees of freedom becomes important at low temperatures [N. Gnan et al., J. Chem. Phys. 137, 084704 (2012)]. As a first attempt at remedying this, we propose to introduce into the theory an additional, nonbonding, anisotropic interparticle potential that enforces end-to-end alignment of two-patch particles. Within the simplest mean-field approximation, this additional potential does not change the thermodynamics of the bulk system and hence preserves its phase diagram but has the qualitatively correct effect on the order parameter and density profiles at a hard wall, as determined from computer simulation.

A doubly associated reference perturbation theory for water

In this work we develop a new classical perturbation theory for water which incorporates the transition to tetrahedral symmetry in both the dispersion and hydrogen bonding contributions to the free energy. This transition is calculated self-consistently using Wertheim's thermodynamic perturbation theory. However, since the reference fluid structure to the hydrogen bonding theory itself depends on hydrogen bonding, the theory represents an approach which goes beyond perturbation theory. The theory is shown to accurately represent the thermodynamics of pure water. It is demonstrated that the new theory can reproduce the anomalous density maximum as well as minima in the isothermal compressibility and isobaric heat capacity.

Extension of Wertheim's thermodynamic perturbation theory to include higher order graph integrals.

This work extends Wertheim's Thermodynamic Perturbation Theory (TPT) to include dimer-dimer graphs, i.e., we extend the theory beyond the so-called single-chain approximation. The theory is referred to as thermodynamic perturbation dimer theory. We provide a graph-theoretical derivation of the additional dimer-dimer term and resum the graphs in terms of 3- and 4-particle correlation functions. It is shown how orientationally averaged (hard-sphere) correlation functions can be obtained by Monte Carlo simulation. The 4-particle correlation function, which arises from the additional order term, is adjusted to results of molecular (hard-sphere) dimer fluid simulations. A new equation of state for linear, flexible hard chain fluids is obtained. The predictions of the compressibility factor and the second virial coefficient of the new theory show a better agreement to results from molecular simulations compared as compared to TPT1 and TPT2. We compare the results of the derived theories with simulated data of chains with length ν = 4, 8, 16, and 64 and show that simply considering higher orders of the regular TPT is not sufficient to describe the low-density behavior of longer chains.

Microscopic density functional theory for monolayers of diblock copolymers

We propose density functional theory for diblock copolymers in two dimensions. Our theoretical framework is based on Wertheim's first order thermodynamic perturbation theory. Using the proposed approach, we investigate the structure and phase behavior of monolayers of symmetric diblock copolymers. We find that the phase behavior of symmetric diblock copolymer monolayers is similar to that in 3D. This includes the scaling of the equilibrium lamellar width with chain length. We find that the topology of the resulting phase diagrams depends on the chain length and the unlike segment interaction incompatibility and involves either one, two, or three triple points (one of them being the peritectic point). We expect that a similar phase behavior could be obtained for monolayers of colloidal suspensions with carefully tuned interparticle interactions.

Phase Equilibria of Polydisperse Square-Well Chain Fluid Confined in Random Porous Media: TPT of Wertheim and Scaled Particle Theory.

Extension of Wertheim's thermodynamic perturbation theory and its combination with scaled particle theory is proposed and applied to study the liquid-gas phase behavior of polydisperse hard-sphere square-well chain fluid confined in the random porous media. Thermodynamic properties of the reference system, represented by the hard-sphere square-well fluid in the matrix, are calculated using corresponding extension of the second-order Barker-Henderson perturbation theory. We study effects of polydispersity and confinement on the phase behavior of the system. While polydispersity causes increase of the region of phase coexistence due to the critical temperature increase, confinement decreases the values of both critical temperature and critical density making the region of phase coexistence smaller. This effect is enhanced with the increase of the size ratio of the fluid and matrix particles. The increase of the average chain length at fixed values of polydispersity and matrix density shifts the critical point to a higher temperature and a slightly lower density.

The role of higher-order terms in perturbation approaches to the monomer and bonding contributions in a SAFT-type equation of state for square-well chain fluids

ABSTRACTA perturbation theory for square-well chain fluids is developed within the scheme of the (generalised) Wertheim thermodynamic perturbation theory. The theory is based on the Pavlyukhin parametrisations [Y. T. Pavlyukhin, J. Struct. Chem. 53, 476 (2012)] of their simulation data for the first four perturbation terms in the high temperature expansion of the Helmholtz free energy of square-well monomer fluids combined with a second-order perturbation theory for the contact value of the radial distribution function of the square-well monomer fluid that enters into bonding contribution. To obtain the latter perturbation terms, we have performed computer simulations in the hard-sphere reference system. The importance of the perturbation terms beyond the second-order one for the monomer fluid and of the approximations of different orders in the bonding contribution for the chain fluids in the predicted equation of state, excess energy and liquid–vapour coexistence densities is analysed.

Equations of state for the fully flexible WCA chains in the fluid and solid phases based on Wertheims-TPT2.

Based on Wertheim's second order thermodynamic perturbation theory (TPT2), equations of state (EOSs) are presented for the fluid and solid phases of tangent, freely jointed spheres. It is considered that the spheres interact with each other through the Weeks-Chandler-Anderson (WCA) potential. The developed TPT2 EOS is the sum of a monomeric reference term and a perturbation contribution due to bonding. MC NVT simulations are performed to determine the structural properties of the reference system in the reduced temperature range of 0.6 ≤ T* ≤ 4.0 and the packing fraction range of 0.1 ≤ η ≤ 0.72. Mathematical functions are fitted to the simulation results of the reference system and employed in the framework of Wertheim's theory to develop TPT2 EOSs for the fluid and solid phases. The extended EOSs are compared to the MC NPT simulation results of the compressibility factor and internal energy of the fully flexible chain systems. Simulations are performed for the WCA chain system for chain lengths of up to 15 at T* = 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 3.0. Across all the reduced temperatures, the agreement between the results of the TPT2 EOS and MC simulations is remarkable. Overall Average Absolute Relative Percent Deviation at T* = 1.0 for the compressibility factor in the entire chain lengths we covered is 0.51 and 0.77 for the solid and fluid phases, respectively. Similar features are observed in the case of residual internal energy.