Phase separation in mixtures of colloidal platelets and non-adsorbing polymer: a scaled particle treatment

Abstract

Scaled particle theory is used to calculate the equation of state for and the free volume accessible to a non-adsorbing polymer, represented by spheres, in a system of colloidal platelets, represented by cut spheres. At low densities the predictions agree very well with computer simulations. For infinitely thin discs, the predictions agree with existing simulation data for the isotropic phase. The analytical results are used to predict the isotropic-isotropic phase boundary as a function of platelet aspect ratio and polymer/colloid size ratio.