Effect of hydrophobic solutes on the liquid-liquid critical point.
Jagla ramp particles, interacting through a ramp potential with two characteristic length scales, are known to show in their bulk phase thermodynamic and dynamic anomalies, similar to what is found in water. Jagla particles also exhibit a line of phase transitions separating a low density liquid phase and a high density liquid phase, terminating in a liquid-liquid critical point in a region of the phase diagram that can be studied by simulations. Employing molecular dynamics computer simulations, we study the thermodynamics and the dynamics of solutions of hard spheres (HS) in a solvent formed by Jagla ramp particles. We consider the cases of HS mole fraction xHS=0.10, 0.15, and 0.20, and also the case xHS=0.50 (a 1:1 mixture of HS and Jagla particles). We find a liquid-liquid critical point, up to the highest HS mole fraction; its position shifts to higher pressures and lower temperatures upon increasing xHS. We also find that the diffusion coefficient anomalies appear to be preserved for all the mole fractions studied.
Corradini
Dario
D
Dipartimento di Fisica, Università Roma Tre, Via della Vasca Navale 84, I-00146 Roma, Italy.
Buldyrev
Sergey V
SV
Gallo
Paola
P
Stanley
H Eugene
HE