Diffusion mobility increases linearly on liquid binodals above triple point

Abstract

Self-diffusion in fluids has been thoroughly studied numerically, but even for simple liquids just a few scaling relationships are known. Relations between diffusion, excitation spectra, and character of the interparticle interactions remain poorly understood. Here, we show that diffusion mobility of particles in simple fluids increases linearly on the liquid branch of the liquid–gas binodal, from the triple point almost up to the critical point. With molecular dynamics simulations, we considered bulk systems of particles interacting via a generalised Lennard–Jones potential, as well as ethane. Using a two-oscillator model for the analysis of excitations, we observed that the mobility (inverse diffusion) coefficient on the liquid–gas binodal increases linearly above the triple point until the dispersion of high-frequency spectra has a solid-like (oscillating) shape. In terms of a separate mode analysis (of longitudinal and transverse modes), this corresponds to crossed modes in the intermediate range of wavenumbers q, between the hydrodynamic regime (small q) and the regime of individual particle motion (large q). The results should be interesting for a broad community in physics and chemistry of fluids, since self-diffusion is among the most fundamental transport phenomena, important for prospective chemical technologies, micro-, nanofluidics, and biotechnologies.