Associating fluids with four bonding sites against a hard wall: density functional theory

Abstract

We present two new perturbation density functional theories to investigate non-uniform fluids of associating molecules. Each fluid molecule is modelled as a spherical hard core with four highly anisotropic square well sites placed in tetrahedral symmetry on the hard core surface. In one theory we apply the weighting from Tarazona's hard sphere density functional theory to Wertheim's bulk first-order perturbation theory. The other theory uses the inhomogeneous form of Wertheim's theory as a perturbation to Tarazona's hard-sphere density functional theory. Each theory approaches Tarazona's theory in the limit of zero association. We compare results from theory and simulation for density profiles, fraction of monomers, and adsorption of an associating fluid against a hard, smooth wall over a range of temperatures and densities. The non-uniform fluid theory which uses Tarazona's weighting of Wertheim's theory in the bulk is in good agreement with computer simulation results.