Demixing and field-induced population inversion in a mixture of neutral and dipolar-hard spheres confined in a slit pore

Abstract

We study the influence of an external field on demixing and its interplay with the field-induced population inversion for a binary mixture of neutral and dipolar non-additive hard-spheres confined in a slit pore. Demixing lines are determined by Gibbs Ensemble Monte Carlo simulations and population inversion paths by grand-canonical/canonical simulations of the pore/bulk equilibrium. Besides the demixing line in the bulk, results are given for two different pore widths and in parallel and normal fields. Similar to the effect of geometrical confinement, a normal field is found to favour the mixed state so that the population inversion does not interfere with demixing. A parallel field leads to more complex scenarios.

Keywords:

• confined fluids
• colloids
• field effects
• simulation
• phase diagram

Notes

Note

1. After longer simulations the inversion is found to take place between and and not right after as in 8,9.