Phase separation in star-polymer-colloid mixtures

Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2001 Jul;64(1 Pt 1):010401. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.64.010401. Epub 2001 Jun 21.

Abstract

We examine the demixing transition in star-polymer-colloid mixtures for star arm numbers f=2,6,16,32 and different star-polymer-colloid size ratios 0.18< or =q< or =0.50. Theoretically, we solve the thermodynamically self-consistent Rogers-Young integral equations for binary mixtures using three effective pair potentials obtained from direct molecular computer simulations. The numerical results show a spinodal instability. The demixing binodals are approximately calculated and found to be consistent with experimental observations.