Wetting in mixtures of colloids and excluded-volume polymers from density functional theory

We use a microscopic density functional theory based on Wertheim's first order thermodynamic perturbation theory to study wetting behavior of athermal mixtures of colloids and excluded-volume polymers. In opposition to the wetting behavior of the Asakura-Oosawa-Vrij model we find the polymer-rich phase to wet a hard wall. The wetting transition is of the first order and is accompanied by the prewetting transition. We do not find any hints for the layering transitions in the partial wetting regime. Our results resemble the wetting behavior in athermal polymer solutions. We point out that an accurate, monomer-resolved theory for colloid-polymer mixtures should incorporate the correct scaling behavior in the dilute polymer regime and an accurate description of the reference system.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, revised version, at press in J. Chem. Phy

The Victorian and the Historical in Post-Victorian Fiction

Zadanie pt. „Digitalizacja i udostępnienie w Cyfrowym Repozytorium Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego kolekcji czasopism naukowych wydawanych przez Uniwersytet Łódzki” nr 885/P-DUN/2014 dofinansowane zostało ze środków MNiSW w ramach działalności upowszechniającej nauk

Ab initio molecular dynamics study of collective excitations in liquid H2_2O and D2_2O: Effect of dispersion corrections

The collective dynamics in liquid water is an active research topic experimentally, theoretically and via simulations. Here, ab initio molecular dynamics simulations are reported in heavy and ordinary water at temperature 323.15 K, or 50$^\circ$C. The simulations in heavy water were performed both with and without dispersion corrections. We found that the dispersion correction (DFT-D3) changes the relaxation of density-density time correlation functions from a slow, typical of a supercooled state, to exponential decay behaviour of regular liquids. This implies an essential reduction of the melting point of ice in simulations with DFT-D3. Analysis of longitudinal (L) and transverse (T) current spectral functions allowed us to estimate the dispersions of acoustic and optic collective excitations and to observe the L-T mixing effect. The dispersion correction shifts the L and T optic (O) modes to lower frequencies and provides by almost thirty per cent smaller gap between the longest-wavelength LO and TO excitations, which can be a consequence of a larger effective high-frequency dielectric permittivity in simulations with dispersion corrections. Simulation in ordinary water with the dispersion correction results in frequencies of optic excitations higher than in D$_2$O, and in a long-wavelength LO-TO gap of 24 ps$^{-1}$ (127 cm$^{-1}$).Comment: 14 pages, 9 figure

Heat capacity of liquids: A hydrodynamic approach

We study autocorrelation functions of energy, heat and entropy densities obtained by molecular dynamics simulations of supercritical Ar and compare them with the predictions of the hydrodynamic theory. It is shown that the predicted by the hydrodynamic theory single-exponential shape of the entropy density autocorrelation functions is perfectly reproduced for small wave numbers by the molecular dynamics simulations and permits the calculation of the wavenumber-dependent specific heat at constant pressure. The estimated wavenumber-dependent specific heats at constant volume and pressure, $C_{v}(k)$ and $C_{p}(k)$, are shown to be in the long-wavelength limit in good agreement with the macroscopic experimental values of $C_{v}$ and $C_{p}$ for the studied thermodynamic points of supercritical Ar.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure

Profiles of electrostatic potential across the water-vapor, ice-vapor and ice-water interfaces

Ice-water, water-vapor interfaces and ice surface are studied by molecular dynamics simulations with the SPC/E model of water molecules having the purpose to estimate the profiles of electrostatic potential across the interfaces. We have proposed a methodology for calculating the profiles of electrostatic potential based on a trial particle, which showed good agreement for the case of electrostatic potential profile of the water-vapor interface of TIP4P model calculated in another way. The measured profile of electrostatic potential for the pure ice-water interface decreases towards the liquid bulk region, which is in agreement with simulations of preferential direction of motion of Li$^{+}$ and F$^{-}$ solute ions at the liquid side of the ice-water interface. These results are discussed in connection with the Workman-Reynolds effect.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

Pressure-driven flow of oligomeric fluid in nano-channel with complex structure. A dissipative particle dynamics study

We develop a simulational methodology allowing for simulation of the pressure-driven flow in the pore with flat and polymer-modified walls. Our approach is based on dissipative particle dynamics and we combine earlier ideas of fluid-like walls and reverse flow. As a test case we consider the oligomer flow through the pore with flat walls and demonstrate good thermostatting qualities of the proposed method. We found the inhomogeneities in both oligomer shape and alignment across the pore leading to a non-parabolic velocity profiles. The method is subsequently applied to a nano-channel decorated with a polymer brush stripes arranged perpendicularly to the flow direction. At certain threshold value of a flow force we find a pillar-to-lamellar morphological transition, which leads to the brush enveloping the pore wall by a relatively smooth layer. At higher flow rates, the flow of oligomer has similar properties as in the case of flat walls, but for the narrower effective pore size. We observe stretching and aligning of the polymer molecules along the flow near the pore walls.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figure

A simple ansatz for the study of velocity autocorrelation functions in fluids at different timescales

A simple ansatz for the study of velocity autocorrelation functions in fluids at different timescales is proposed. The ansatz is based on an effective summation of the infinite continued fraction at a reasonable assumption about convergence of relaxation times of the higher order memory functions, which have a purely kinetic origin. The VAFs obtained within our approach are compared with the results of the Markovian approximation for memory kernels. It is shown that although in the "overdamped" regime both approaches agree to a large extent at the initial and intermediate times of the system evolution, our formalism yields power law relaxation of the VAFs which is not observed at the description with a finite number of the collective modes. Explicit expressions for the transition times from kinetic to hydrodynamic regimes are obtained from the analysis of the singularities of spectral functions in the complex frequency plane.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figure