Phase Transitions in Confined Spaces

The theoretical foundation for describing critical phenomena in confined systems is the finite-size scaling approach [64], by which the dependence of physical quantities on system size is investigated. On the basis of the Ising Hamiltonian and finite-size scaling theory, Fisher and Nakanishi computed the critical temperature of a fluid confined between parallel plates of distance D [66]. The critical temperature refers to, e.g., a liquid/vapor phase transition. Alternatively, the demixing phase transition of an initially miscible Kquid/Kquid mixture could be considered. Fisher and Nakashini foimd that compared with free space, the critical temperature is shifted by an amoimt 

With the critical exponent being positive, it follows that large shifts of the critical temperature are expected when the fluid is confined in a narrow space. Evans et al. computed the shift of the critical temperature for a liquid/vapor phase transition in a parallel-plates geometry [67]. They considered a maximum width of the slit of 20 times the range of the interaction potential between the fluid and the solid wall. For this case, a shift in critical temperature of 5% compared with the free-space phase transition was found. From theoretical considerations of critical phenomena 

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