Surface freezing in binary mixtures of alkanes: New phases and phase transitions

X. Z. Wu, B. M. Ocko, H. Tang, E. B. Sirota, S. K. Sinha, M. Deutsch

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

72 Scopus citations

Abstract

Surface freezing of a crystalline monolayer has been observed at the free surface of liquid binary mixtures of normal alkanes by x-ray and surface tension measurements. Two dramatically different behaviors are found for the monolayer properties depending on Δn, the difference in the components' carbon numbers. For small Δn, the variation with temperature and concentration is continuous. For large Δn, the variation is discontinuous, exhibiting surface segregation and 2D structural phase transitions. A theory based on competition between entropic mixing and a repulsive interaction due to chain length mismatch accounts well for the observed phenomena.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1332-1335
Number of pages4
JournalPhysical Review Letters
Volume75
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - 1995

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