PHASE AND CRITICAL BEHAVIOUR OF IONIC FLUIDS: EXPERIMENT, THEORY AND COMPUTER SIMULATIONS

Oksana Patsahan

Institute for Condensed Matter Physics, National Academy of Science of Ukraine

It is known that electrostatic forces determine the properties of various systems: physical as well as chemical or biological. In particular, the Coulomb interactions are of great importance when dealing with ionic fluids, i.e. fluids consisting of dissociated cations and anions. In most cases the Coulomb interaction is the dominant one and due to its long-range character can substantially affect the critical properties and the phase behaviour of ionic systems. Thus, the investigations concerning these issues are of great fundamental interest.
Over the last ten years, both the phase diagrams and the critical behaviour of ionic solutions have been intensively studied using experimental and theoretical methods (see for example, [1-4]). The overview of the achievements obtained in this field will be presented in the lectures.
[1] J.M.H. Levelt Sengers, J.A. Given. Mol. Phys. 80 (1993) 899.
[2] M.E. Fisher. The story of coulombic criticality. J. Stat. Phys. 75 (1994) 1-36.
[3] G. Stell. Criticality and phase transitions in ionic fluids. J. Stat. Phys. 78 (1995) 197-238.
4. Schröer W. Ionic Soft Matter: Modern Trends and Applications. Ed. D. Henderson et al. (Dordrecht: NATO ASI Series II, Springer, 2005) 143.
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