Surface effects on heterogeneous phase equilibria

For small particles with large curvature the surface has, as previously stated, a significant effect on the thermodynamics, and the concepts developed apply to all types of interfaces between solid, liquid and gas. 

The fact that the curvature of the surface affects a heterogeneous phase equilibrium can be seen by analyzing the number of degrees of freedom of a system. If two phases a and are separated by a planar interface, the conditions for equilibrium do not involve the interface and the Gibbs phase rule as described in Chapter 4 applies. On the other hand, if the two coexisting phases a and / are separated by a curved interface, the pressures of the two phases are no longer equal and the Laplace equation (6.27) (eq. 6.35 for solids), expressed in terms of the two principal curvatures of the interface, defines the equilibrium conditions for pressure  

Equation (6.42) introduces a new independent variable of the system the mean curvature c = (c1 +C2). This variable must be taken into account in the Gibbs phase rule, which now reads F + Ph = C + 2 + 1. The number of degrees of freedom (F) of a two-phase system (Ph = 2) with a curved interface is given by 

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In the last two sections the formal theory of surface thermodynamics is used to describe material characteristics. The effect of interfaces on some important heterogeneous phase equilibria is summarized in Section 6.2. Here the focus is on the effect of the curvature of the interface. In Section 6.3 adsorption is covered. Physical and chemical adsorption and the effect of interface or surface energies on the segregation of chemical species in the interfacial region are covered. Of special importance again are solid-gas or liquid-gas interfaces and adsorption isotherms, and the thermodynamics of physically adsorbed species is here the main focus. 

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