Phase diagram and structural properties of a simple model for one-patch particles.
We study the thermodynamic and structural properties of a simple, one-patch fluid model using the reference hypernetted-chain (RHNC) integral equation and specialized Monte Carlo simulations. In this model, the interacting particles are hard spheres, each of which carries a single identical, arbitrarily oriented and attractive circular patch on its surface; two spheres attract via a simple square-well potential only if the two patches on the spheres face each other within a specific angular range dictated by the size of the patch. For a ratio of attractive to repulsive surface of 0.8, we construct the RHNC fluid-fluid separation curve and compare with that obtained by Gibbs ensemble and grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations. We find that RHNC provides a quick and highly reliable estimate for the position of the fluid-fluid critical line. In addition, it gives a detailed (though approximate) description of all structural properties and their dependence on patch size.
Giacometti
Achille
A
Dipartimento di Chimica Fisica, Università di Venezia, Calle Larga S. Marta DD2137, I-30123 Venezia, Italy. achille@unive.it
Lado
Fred
F
Largo
Julio
J
Pastore
Giorgio
G
Sciortino
Francesco
F