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Phase Transitions: Liquid-Liquid Unmixing– Equilibrium Phase Diagram. Soft-Condensed Matter Department of Physics,Tunghai-University. Phase Transition and Order Parameters.
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Phase Transitions: Liquid-Liquid Unmixing– Equilibrium Phase Diagram Soft-Condensed Matter Department of Physics,Tunghai-University
Phase Transition and Order Parameters • Order parameter: change from a more ordered state to a less ordered state, and vice versa → order parameters are necessary to describe the change of the states • First order transition: order parameter changes discontinuously between zero and finite values • Second order transition: order parameter changes continuously between zero and finite values
Phase Transition in Soft Matter • The self-assembled process • The states of soft matters are usually very complex • A transition means the atoms of the system to rearrange themselves → usually takes longer time to reach the equilibrium • If the time scale for the rearrangement is too long, we may observe the non-equilibrium states
Liquid-Liquid Unmixing Problem A B A+B
Regular Solution Model: A Mean-Field Approach • Change of free energy of mixing: Fmix = FA+B – (FA+FB) • A and B can mix if Fmix < 0, phase separation for Fmix > 0 • Assume the liquids are incompressible • Assume the molecules are located at lattice points with coordinate number = z • Ф: volume fractions
Regular Solution Model (Conti.): Entropy part • Mean-field approximation: the neighboring sites are independent of each other • Boltzmann formula: • In this case:
Regular Solution Model (Conti.): Energy part • Assume only n.n. interactions • Assume the interactions are pairwise additive • Mean-field approximation: there are zФA A molecules and zФB B molecules at the neighbors of each site (no matter the site is occupied by A or B) • єAA, BB, AB are the contact energies for AA, BB, and AB n.n. contacts
Phase Separation • For Fig.3.3 (b), the mixed state is unstable and the system will become a phase-separated state
Metastable State Unstable Metastable
Interface between Phases and Interfacial Tension • For phase separated liquids, there is an interface • The interface costs free energy → Surface tension • The force needed to keep the interface: F=γL
Interfacial Tension • The definition is performed under the constant temperature condition, i. e., isothermalrather than adiabatic • The interfacial tension is an interfacial free energy rather than internal energy • For ideal sharp interface: