Statistical Thermodynamics of Material Transport in Nonisothermal Suspensions

Abstract

An approach to the transport of material in a temperature gradient is outlined using nonequilibrium thermodynamics theory. The model is applicable to the thermophoresis of colloids and nanoparticles in systems with limited miscibility. Component chemical potentials in binary systems are calculated using statistical mechanics. The local pressure distribution is obtained using the condition of local thermodynamic equilibrium around the suspended particle. The Laplace contribution of the local pressure distribution within the layer of liquid surrounding the particle leads to a size dependence that is consistent with empirical data. The contribution of Keezom interaction to the thermodiffusion coefficient is calculated using empirical values of the thermodiffusion coefficient for silica particles in water and acetonitrile. The resulting interaction energies are consistent with those found in the literature.

Determining phoretic mobilities with Onsager’s reciprocal relations: Electro- and thermophoresis revisited

“…Phoresis is the directed motion of colloids through a fluid in response to a thermodynamic gradient. Despite many theoretical advances [1,3,11,18,31,33], phoretic motion remains a fruitful subject for current research [2,5,12,19,26,32,35]. The majority of existing theories make use of the fact that phoretic motion is a force-free interfacial phenomenon: It relies on the presence of a specific colloid-fluid interaction and is accompanied by an interfacial fluid flow in the opposite direction.…”

Coupled Heat and Mass Transport in Liquid Films that Contain Thermophoretically Active Particles

“…According to eqs –, a nonuniform temperature profile is established in the film even if the concentration profile is homogeneous. When the particles suspended in the liquid are thermophoretically active, the concentration term in eq will either increase or decrease with x , depending on the properties of both particle and liquid. , …”

On the Motion of Carbon Nanotube Clusters near Optical Fiber Tips: Thermophoresis, Radiative Pressure, and Convection Effects

“…The theoretical background that we are going to use corresponds to that developed by Semenov and Schimpf. 10,18 The equations that they obtained were specifically for the case of attractive interactions between the particle and the solvent. Here we are going to extend the theory to general interaction potentials.…”