Intermolecular Casimir-Polder Forces in Water and near Surfaces

TL;DR

This paper investigates the Casimir-Polder forces between molecules in water and near surfaces, providing estimates of dispersion contributions to binding energies relevant for adsorption and desorption processes.

Contribution

It introduces a finite molecular size correction to the Casimir-Polder energy, enhancing the accuracy of interaction energy estimates in fluid environments.

Findings

Finite size correction affects binding energy estimates.

Casimir-Polder forces influence adsorption in fluids.

Interaction energies vary with surface proximity.

Abstract

The Casimir-Polder force is an important long range interaction involved in adsorption and desorption of molecules in fluids. We explore Casimir-Polder interactions between methane molecules in water, and between a molecule in water near SiO2 and hexane surfaces. Inclusion of the finite molecular size in the expression for the Casimir-Polder energy leads to estimates of the dispersion contribution to the binding energies between molecules and between one molecule and a planar surface.