As in Paper I of this series of papers [S. M. Cattes et al., J. Chem. Phys. 144, 194704 (2016)], we study a Heisenberg fluid confined to a nanoscopic slit pore with smooth walls. The pore walls can either energetically discriminate specific orientations of the molecules next to them or are indifferent to molecular orientations. Unlike in Paper I, we employ a version of classical density functional theory that allows us to explicitly account for the stratification of the fluid (i.e., the formation of molecular layers) as a consequence of the symmetry-breaking presence of the pore walls. We treat this stratification within the White Bear version (Mark I) of fundamental measure theory. Thus, in this work, we focus on the interplay between local packing of the molecules and orientational features. In particular, we demonstrate why a critical end point can only exist if the pore walls are not energetically discriminating specific molecular orientations. We analyze in detail the positional and orientational order of the confined fluid and show that reorienting molecules across the pore space can be a two-dimensional process. Last but not least, we propose an algorithm based upon a series expansion of Bessel functions of the first kind with which we can solve certain types of integrals in a very efficient manner.
We employ classical density functional theory (DFT) to investigate the phase behavior and composition of binary mixtures; each compound consists of hard spheres of different sizes with superimposed dispersion attraction. In addition to the dispersion attraction, molecules of one component carry an additional three-dimensional magnetic "spin" where the orientation-dependent spin-spin interaction is accounted for by the Heisenberg model. We are treating the excess free energy using a modified mean-field approximation (second virial coefficient) for the orientation-dependent pair correlation function. Depending on the concentration of the magnetic particles, the strength of the spin-spin coupling, and the size ratio of the particles, the model predicts the formation of ordered (polar) phases in addition to the more conventional gas and isotropic liquid phases. Key features of our model are a particle-size dependent shift of the gas-liquid critical point (critical temperature and density) and a change in the width of the phase diagram. In the near-critical region, the latter can be analyzed quantitativly in terms of an effective critical exponent β that may differ from the classical critical exponent [Formula: see text]; the classical value is attained in the immediate vicinity of the critical point as it must. The deviation between β and β can be linked to nontrivial composition effects along the phase boundaries.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.