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Colloids, polymers, and needles: Demixing phase behavior

Matthias Schmidt·Alan R. Denton
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Abstract

We consider a ternary mixture of hard colloidal spheres, ideal polymer spheres, and rigid vanishingly thin needles, which model stretched polymers or colloidal rods. For this model we develop a geometry-based density functional theory, apply it to bulk fluid phases, and predict demixing phase behavior. In the case of no polymer-needle interactions, two-phase coexistence between colloid-rich and -poor phases is found. For hard needle-polymer interactions we predict rich phase diagrams, exhibiting three-phase coexistence, and reentrant demixing behavior.

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Matthias Schmidt, Alan R. Denton. 2001-10-04. Colloids, polymers, and needles: Demixing phase behavior. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.65.021508

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