Smoluchowsky equation for diffusion

As is well known, dynamic properties of polymer molecules in dilute solution are usually treated theoretically by Brownian motion methods. Tn particular, the standard approach is to use a Fokker-Planck (or Smoluchowski) equation for diffusion of the distribution function of the polymer molecule in its configuration space. 

Here a is the drop radius, k a specific solubilization rate determined experimentally, c, the concentration of surfactant in micelles, and 0g and 9 the ratios of concentrations of the soluble species in the bulk and at the interface to the equilibrium solubilization capacity at c,. This equation for interfacially controlled transport is the counterpart to the well-known von Smoluchowski equation for diffusion-controlled transport ... 

Proton transfer dynamics of photoacids to the solvent have thus, being reversible in nature, been modelled using the Debye-von Smoluchowski equation for diffusion-assisted reaction dynamics in a large body of experimental work on HPTS [84—87] and naphthols [88-92], with additional studies on the temperature dependence [93-98], and the pressure dependence [99-101], as well as the effects of special media such as reverse micelles [102] or chiral environments [103]. Moreover, results modelled with the Debye-von Smoluchowski approach have also been reported for proton acceptors triggered by optical excitation (photobases) [104, 105], and for molecular compounds with both photoacid and photobase functionalities, such as lO-hydroxycamptothecin [106] and coumarin 4 [107]. It can be expected that proton diffusion also plays a role in hydroxyquinoline compounds [108-112]. Finally, proton diffusion has been suggested in the long time dynamics of green fluorescent protein [113], where the chromophore functions as a photoacid [23,114], with an initial proton release on a 3-20 ps time scale [115,116]. 

In an early attempt, Mozumder (1968) used a prescribed diffusion approach to obtain the e-ion geminate recombination kinetics in the pure solvent. At any time t, the electron distribution function was assumed to be a gaussian corresponding to free diffusion, weighted by another function of t only. The latter function was found by substituting the entire distribution function in the Smoluchowski equation, for which an analytical solution was possible. The result may be expressed by... 

The Smoluchowski theory for diffusion-controlled reactions, when combined with the Stokes-Einstein equation for the diffusion coefficient, predicts that the rate constant for a diffusion-controlled reaction will be inversely proportional to the solution viscosity.16 Therefore, the literature values for the bimolecular electron transfer reactions (measured for a solution viscosity of r ) were adjusted by multiplying by the factor r 1/r 2 to obtain the adjusted value of the kinetic constant... 

The analytical solution of the Smoluchowski equation for a Coulomb potential has been found by Hong and Noolandi [13]. Their results of the pair survival probability, obtained for the boundary condition (11a) with R = 0, are presented in Fig. 2. The solid lines show W t) calculated for two different values of Yq. The horizontal axis has a unit of r /D, which characterizes the timescale of the kinetics of geminate recombination in a particular system For example, in nonpolar liquids at room temperature r /Z) 10 sec. Unfortunately, the analytical treatment presented by Hong and Noolandi [13] is rather complicated and inconvenient for practical use. Tabulated values of W t) can be found in Ref. 14. The pair survival probability of geminate ion pairs can also be calculated numerically [15]. In some cases, numerical methods may be a more convenient approach to calculate W f), especially when the reaction cannot be assumed as totally diffusion-controlled. 

When the motion of electrons and positive ions in a particular system may be described as ideal diffusion, the process of bulk recombination of these particles is described by the diffusion equation. The mathematical formalism of the bulk recombination theory is very similar to that used in the theory of geminate electron-ion recombination, which was described in Sec. 10.1.2 ( Diffusion-Controlled Geminate Ion Recombination ). Geminate recombination is described by the Smoluchowski equation for the probability density w(r,i) [cf. Eq. (2)], while the bulk recombination is described by the diffusion equation for the space and time-dependent concentration of electrons around a cation (or vice versa), c(r,i). 

A more quantitative measure of stability, known as the stability ratio, can be obtained by setting up and solving the equation for diffusive collisions between the particles. Quantitative formulations of stability, known as the Smoluchowski and Fuchs theories of colloid stability, are the centerpieces of classical colloid science. These and related issues are covered in Section 13.4. 

Very recently, Lavenda devised an interesting method of solution of the Kramers problem in the extreme low-friction limit. He was able to show that it could be reduced to a formal Schrddinger equation for the radial part of the hydrogen atom and thus be solved exactly. One particular form of the long-time behavior of the rigorous rate equation coincides with that obtained by Kramers with the quasi-stationary hypothesis and may thus clarify the implications of this hypothesis. The method of Lavenda is reminiscent of that used by van Kampen but applied to a Smoluchowski equation for the diffusion of the energy. 

Diffusion (Smoluchowski) Equation for Brownian Particles. The concentration p(x. t) of free Brownian particles at time t is described by the diffusion equation [250]... 

This concept which is based on a random walk with a well-defined characteristic waiting time (thus called a discrete-time random walk) and which applies when collisions are frequent but weak leads to the Smoluchowski equation for the evolution of the concentration of Brownian particles in configuration space. If inertial effects are included (see Note 8 of Ref. 2, due to Fiirth), we obtain the Klein-Kramers equation for the evolution of the distribution function in phase space which describes normal diffusion. The random walk considered by Einstein [2] is a walk in which the elementary steps are taken at uniform intervals in time and so is called a discrete time random walk. The concept of collisions which are frequent but weak can be clarified by remarking that in the discrete time random walk, the problem [5] is always to find the probability that the system will be in a state m at some time t given that it was in a state n at some earlier time. 

This concept, which is based on a random walk with a well-defined characteristic time and which applies when collisions are frequent but weak [13], leads to the Smoluchowski equation for the evolution of the concentration of Brownian particles in configuration space. If inertial effects are included (see Note 8 of Ref. 71, due to Fiirth), we obtain the Fokker Planck equation for the evolution of the distribution function in phase space which describes normal diffusion. 

In all the 2BSM calculations presented here, the diffusion coefficient Dj equals 1, which defines the unit of frequency (inverse time) whereas the diffusion coefficient for the solvent, Dj varied from 10 (very fast solvent relaxation) to 1, 0.1, 0.01 (very slow solvent relaxation). In the Dj = 10 case, one finds that the reorientation of the solute is virtually independent of the solvent a projection procedure could easily be adopted in this case to yield a one-body Smoluchowski equation for body 1 with perturbational corrections from body 2. The temporal decay of the first and second rank correlation functions is then typically monoexponential. When the solvent is relaxing slowly (i.e., Dj is in the range 1-0.01), the effect of the large cage of the rapid motion of the probe becomes... 

P (Q Q) and Q(Q -> n) are the probabilities that a molecule will rotate in the redistribution processes of trans cis optical transition and cis =i trans thermal recovery respectively. The orientational hole burning is represented by a probability proportional to cos 9. The last terms on the right-hand side of Eq. 11 describe the rotational diffusion due to Brownian motion. This is a Smoluchowski equation for the rotational diffusion characterized by a constant of diffusion for the cis (trans) configur-... 

In order to account for the above behavior we have replaced the conventional rate equations by a Smoluchowski equation, describing diffusion in the potential of mutual interaction. In this picture one introduces explicitly the R 0 /H distance distribution, thus obtaining a partial (instead of an ordinary) differential equation for the time evolution of proton dissociation. The fact that the observed reaction is reversible in the excited-state, has promoted the development of the theory of reversible diffusion influenced reactions [14], as an (almost obvious) extension of the theory of (irreversible) diffusion influenced reactions [15, 16]. 

By equating Pick s second law and the Stokes-Einstein equation for diffusivity, Smoluchowski (1916,1917) showed that the collision frequency factor takes the form... 

The temperature dependence of a diffusion-controlled rate constant is very small. Actually, it is just the temperature coefficient of the diffusion coefficient, as we see from the von Smoluchowski equation. Typically, Ea for diffusion is about 8-14 kJ mol"1 (2-4 kcal mol-1) in solvents of ordinary viscosity. 

Perrin model and the Johansson and Elvingston model fall above the experimental data. Also shown in this figure is the prediction from the Stokes-Einstein-Smoluchowski expression, whereby the Stokes-Einstein expression is modified with the inclusion of the Ein-stein-Smoluchowski expression for the effect of solute on viscosity. Penke et al. [290] found that the Mackie-Meares equation fit the water diffusion data however, upon consideration of water interactions with the polymer gel, through measurements of longitudinal relaxation, adsorption interactions incorporated within the volume averaging theory also well described the experimental results. The volume averaging theory had the advantage that it could describe the effect of Bis on the relaxation within the same framework as the description of the diffusion coefficient. 

For example, in the case of PS and applying the Smoluchowski equation [333], it is possible to estimate the precipitation time, fpr, of globules of radius R and translation diffusion coefficient D in solutions of polymer concentration cp (the number of chains per unit volume) [334]. Assuming a standard diffusion-limited aggregation process, two globules merge every time they collide in the course of Brownian motion. Thus, one can write Eq. 2 ... 

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