English

Fluids of spherical molecules with dipolar-like nonuniform adhesion. An analytically solvable anisotropic model

Soft Condensed Matter 2009-11-13 v1

Abstract

We consider an anisotropic version of Baxter's model of `sticky hard spheres', where a nonuniform adhesion is implemented by adding, to an isotropic surface attraction, an appropriate `dipolar sticky' correction (positive or negative, depending on the mutual orientation of the molecules). The resulting nonuniform adhesion varies continuously, in such a way that in each molecule one hemisphere is `stickier' than the other. We derive a complete analytic solution by extending a formalism [M.S. Wertheim, J. Chem. Phys. \textbf{55}, 4281 (1971) ] devised for dipolar hard spheres. Unlike Wertheim's solution which refers to the `mean spherical approximation', we employ a \textit{Percus-Yevick closure with orientational linearization}, which is expected to be more reliable. We obtain analytic expressions for the orientation-dependent pair correlation function g(1,2)g(1,2) . Only one equation for a parameter KK has to be solved numerically. We also provide very accurate expressions which reproduce KK as well as some parameters, Λ1\Lambda_{1} and Λ2\Lambda_{2}, of the required Baxter factor correlation functions with a relative error smaller than 1%. We give a physical interpretation of the effects of the anisotropic adhesion on the g(1,2)g(1,2) . The model could be useful for understanding structural ordering in complex fluids within a unified picture.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0807.0384,
  title  = {Fluids of spherical molecules with dipolar-like nonuniform adhesion. An analytically solvable anisotropic model},
  author = {Domenico Gazzillo and Riccardo Fantoni and Achille Giacometti},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0807.0384},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

30 pages, 6 Figures, Physical Review E in press