Phase behavior and percolation properties of the primitive model of Laponite suspension. TPT of Wertheim with ISM reference system

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel computational scheme combining thermodynamic perturbation theory and the interaction site model to analyze phase behavior and percolation in anisotropic associative fluids, exemplified by a primitive Laponite suspension model.

Contribution

The authors develop an efficient method that integrates Wertheim's perturbation theory with the interaction site model for studying complex anisotropic fluids.

Findings

Calculated phase diagram of Laponite suspension model

Determined percolation thresholds for the system

Validated the method against known results

Abstract

Computation of the properties of associative fluids with the particles highly anisotropic in shape, using multi-density perturbation theory of Wertheim, has long been a challenge. We propose a simple and efficient scheme that allow us to perform such computations. The scheme is based on a combination of thermodynamic perturbation theory and the interaction site model approach for molecular fluids due to Chandler and Andersen. Our method is illustrated by its application to calculation of the phase diagram and percolation properties of a primitive model of Laponite suspension proposed recently.