Critical behavior in colloid-polymer mixtures: theory and simulation

Abstract

We extensively investigated the critical behavior of mixtures of colloids and polymers via the two-component Asakura-Oosawa model and its reduction to a one-component colloidal fluid using accurate theoretical and simulation techniques. In particular the theoretical approach, hierarchical reference theory [Adv. Phys. 44, 211 (1995)], incorporates realistically the effects of long-range fluctuations on phase separation giving exponents which differ strongly from their mean-field values, and are in good agreement with those of the three-dimensional Ising model. Computer simulations combined with finite-size scaling analysis confirm the Ising universality and the accuracy of the theory, although some discrepancy in the location of the critical point between one-component and full-mixture description remains. To assess the limit of the pair-interaction description, we compare one-component and two-component results.

15 pages, 10 figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev. E

References in corpus (2)

• The fluid-fluid interface in a model colloid-polymer mixture: Application of grand canonical Monte Carlo to asymmetric binary mixtures
• Critical phenomena in colloid-polymer mixtures: interfacial tension, order parameter, susceptibility and coexistence diameter

Cited by in corpus (2)

• Nonuniversal routes to universality: Critical phenomena in colloidal dispersions
• Fluid-fluid demixing transitions in colloid--polyelectrolyte star mixtures