Ensemble inequivalence in the design of mixtures with super-Gibbs phase coexistence

Abstract

Designing the phase behavior of multicomponent mixtures is a rich area with many potential applications. One key question is how more than $M+1$ phases, as would normally be allowed by Gibbs' phase rule at generic temperature in a mixture of $M$ molecular species, can be made to coexist in equilibrium. In the grandcanonical ensemble, such super-Gibbs phase equilibria can be realized by tuning the interactions among the $M$ species. This introduces $\sim M^2$ additional degrees of freedom and hence a superlinear number of phases that can coexist. We show that, surprisingly, there is no straightforward equivalence to the situation in the experimentally relevant canonical ensemble: here only a subset of the grandcanonical phases will generically be realized. This subset is determined by interfacial tensions in addition to bulk free energies. Using a graph-theoretical approach, we determine a sufficient set of inequalities for the interfacial tensions for which all grandcanonical phases are realized so that equivalence of ensembles is effectively restored. We illustrate the design method for a two-component mixture with four coexisting phases and point out the route for generalizing this to a higher number of components.