The effect of a uniform electric field on homogeneous vapor–liquid nucleation in a dipolar fluid. I. Stockmayer fluid

Authors

• K.J. Oh, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
• G.T. Gao, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
• Xiao Cheng Zeng, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

11-15-1998

Comments

Published by American Institute of Physics. J. Chem. Physics VOLUME 109, NUMBER 19, 15 NOVEMBER 1998. ©1998 American Institute of Physics. Permission to use. http://jcp.aip.org/.

Abstract

The rate of homogeneous vapor–liquid nucleation is controlled mainly by the Gibbs formation free energy of critical clusters. Within the framework of thei/υ cluster theory of Reiss and co-workers, the formation free energies of Stockmayer clusters in the presence of a uniform electric field are determined. The Helmholtz free energy of the clusters, an input required in the i/υ cluster theory, is calculated via Monte Carlo simulations. The most significant result is that as a uniform electric field is applied the formation free energy at fixed supersaturation of the vapor becomes larger than that in the absence of a field, whereas at fixed chemical potential the formation free energy becomes smaller.