Force density induced by preferential adsorption in a near-critical binary fluid mixture subject to the Soret effect

Abstract

We assume that two parallel plates are immersed in a binary fluid mixture lying in the one-phase region near the demixing critical point and that the surface of each plate attracts the mixture components differently via short-range interactions. It is known that the composition inhomogeneity caused by the difference can induce a force exerted on the plate at equilibrium. In the present study, we investigate how a temperature gradient imposed vertically on the plates changes the induced force by calculating the composition profile subject to the Soret effect. Numerically solving the derived differential equation, we show that a temperature gradient within the critical regime can change the force distinctly from its equilibrium value and can make the force direction opposite to the one at equilibrium.