Thermodynamics predicts a stable microdroplet phase in polymer-gel mixtures undergoing elastic phase separation

Autor:	Biswas, Subhadip, Mukherjee, Biswaroop, Chakrabarti, Buddhapriya
Rok vydání:	2021
Předmět:	Condensed Matter - Soft Condensed Matter Condensed Matter - Materials Science Condensed Matter - Statistical Mechanics
Zdroj:	Soft Matter, 18, 8117-8123 (2022)
Druh dokumentu:	Working Paper
DOI:	10.1039/D2SM01101H
Popis:	We study the thermodynamics of binary mixtures with the volume fraction of the minority component less than the amount required to form a flat interface and show that the surface tension dominated equilibrium phase of the mixture forms a single macroscopic droplet. Elastic interactions in gel-polymer mixtures stabilize a phase with multiple droplets. Using a mean-field free energy we compute the droplet size as a function of the interfacial tension, Flory parameter, and elastic moduli of the gel. Our results illustrate the role of elastic interactions in dictating the phase behavior of biopolymers undergoing liquid-liquid phase separation. Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures
Databáze:	arXiv
Externí odkaz:	http://arxiv.org/abs/2104.00651 Zobrazit plný text záznamu View this record from Arxiv