Probing the interfacial behavior of Type IIIa binary mixtures along the three-phase line employing molecular thermodynamics
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Author(s)
alonso, gerard
chaparro, gustavo
cartes, marcela
Muller, Erich
Mejia, A
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Interfacial properties such as interfacial profiles, surface activity, wetting transitions, and interfacial tensions along the three-phase line are described for a Type IIIa binary mixture. The methodological approach combines the square gradient theory coupled to the statistical associating fluid theory for Mie potentials of variable range, and coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations using the same underlying potential. The water + n-hexane mixture at three-phase equilibrium is chosen as a benchmark test case. The results show that the use of the same molecular representation for both the theory and the simulations provides a complementary picture of the aforementioned mixture, with an excellent agreement between the molecular models and the available experimental data. Interfacial tension calculations are extended to temperatures where experimental data are not available. From these extrapolations, it is possible to infer a first order wetting transition at 347.2 K, where hexane starts to completely wet the water/vapor interface. Similarly, the upper critical end point is estimated at 486.3 K. Both results show a very good agreement to the available experimental information. The concentration profiles confirm the wetting behavior of n-hexane along with a strong positive surface activity that increases with temperature, contrasting the weak positive surface activity of water that decreases with temperature.
Date Issued
2020-03-25
Date Acceptance
2020-03-20
Citation
Molecules, 2020, 25 (7)
ISSN
1420-3049
Publisher
MDPI AG
Journal / Book Title
Molecules
Volume
25
Issue
7
Copyright Statement
© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
License URL
Sponsor
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC)
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC)
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC)
Grant Number
EP/E016340/1
EP/J014958/1
EP/R013152/1
Subjects
SAFT-VR Mie
aqueous-hydrocarbon mixture
molecular dynamics
square gradient theory
three-phase line interfacial properties
0304 Medicinal and Biomolecular Chemistry
0305 Organic Chemistry
0307 Theoretical and Computational Chemistry
Organic Chemistry
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
1499