title: Microphase separations of the fluids with spherically symmetric competing interactions.
abstract: A density functional perturbation theory has been developed for studying the phase behaviors of a competing system in the spherical pores. The pore size as well as the intensity of competing interactions exerts a strong influence on the vapor-liquid, vapor-cluster, and cluster-liquid transitions of a competing system. The microdomain spacing (D) of the cluster is commensurate with the periodicity of modulation in the particle density distributions of a competing system in a spherical pore with the pore radius (R). For the cluster phase, we find that the multi-vaporlike void is formed depending on the periodicity of modulation by finite-size artifacts. For R < D, the competing system only shows the vapor-liquid transition at a high amplitude. For R > D, the vapor-cluster and cluster-liquid transitions are found at a high amplitude, whereas at a low amplitude, the cluster-liquid transition only occurs. The competing system exhibits two tricritical points, which are joined to one another by the line of second-order transitions at the low and high densities. A comparison with the result of a slit pore shows that (i) the tricritical points in a spherical pore, which has the highest symmetry, occur at a low amplitude compared with that of a slit pore because of the geometrical properties of the pores, and that (ii) the slit pore relatively shows the wide vapor-cluster and cluster-liquid coexistence regions compared with that of a spherical pore: the geometrical symmetry of a pore results in a weaker tendency for phase separation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Andong National University, Andong 760-749, South Korea. sckim@andong.ac.kr
authors.forename: Soon-Chul
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Soong-Hyuck
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Suh
authors.forename: Baek-Seok
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Seong