Phase separation in complex mixtures with many components: analytical expressions for spinodal manifolds
Abstract
The phase behavior is investigated for systems composed of a large number of macromolecular components N, with N greater or equal to 2. Liquid-liquid phase separation is modelled using a virial expansion up to the second order of the concentrations of the components. Formal analytical expressions for the spinodal manifolds in N dimensions are derived that simplify their calculation (by transforming the original problem into inequalities that can be evaluated numerically using linear programming techniques). In addition, a new expression is obtained to calculate the critical manifold and the composition of the co-existing phases. The present analytical procedure complements previous attempts to handle spinodal decomposition for many components using a statistical approach based on Random Matrix Theory. The results are relevant for predicting effects of polydispersity on phase behavior in fields like polymer or food science, and to liquid-liquid phase separation in the cytosol of living cells.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2306.17600,
title = {Phase separation in complex mixtures with many components: analytical expressions for spinodal manifolds},
author = {Arjen Bot and Erik van der Linden and Paul Venema},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2306.17600},
year = {2024}
}
Comments
31 pages, 2 tables, 5 figures