Self-Consistent Description of Vapor-Liquid Interface in Ionic Fluids

Abstract

Inhomogeneity of ion correlation widely exists in many physicochemical, soft matter, and biological systems. Here, we apply the modified Gaussian renormalized fluctuation theory to study the classic example of the vapor-liquid interface of ionic fluids. The ion correlation is decomposed into a short-range contribution associated with the local electrostatic environment and a long-range contribution accounting for the spatially varying ionic strength and dielectric permittivity. For symmetric salt, both the coexistence curve and the interfacial tension predicted by our theory are in quantitative agreement with simulation data reported in the literature. Furthermore, we provide the first theoretical prediction of interfacial structure for asymmetric salt, highlighting the importance of capturing local charge separation.

References in corpus (3)

• On the theoretical description of weakly charged surfaces
• Electrostatic correlation induced ion condensation and charge inversion in multivalent electrolytes
• The liquid-vapor interface of the restricted primitive model of ionic fluids from a density functional approach

Cited by in corpus (6)

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• Ion correlation driven like-charge attraction in multivalent salt solutions
• Electrostatic Correlation Augmented Self-Consistent Field Theory and Its Application to Polyelectrolyte Brushes
• Ion Correlation-Driven Hysteretic Adhesion and Repulsion between Opposing Polyelectrolyte Brushes
• Understanding long-range opposite charge repulsion in multivalent salt solutions