Evaluating the accuracy of a density functional theory of polymer solutions with additive hard sphere diameters

摘要

We assess the accuracy of a density functional theory for athermal polymer solutions,consisting of solvent particles with a smaller radius than that of the monomers.The monomer and solvent density profiles in a slit bound by hard,flat,and inert surfaces are compared with those obtained by a Metropolis Monte Carlo simulation.At the relatively high density at which the comparison is performed,there are considerable packing effects at the walls.The density functional theory introduces a simple weight function to describe nonlocal correlations in the fluid.A recent study of surface forces in polymer solutions used a different weighting scheme to that proposed in this article,leading to less accurate results.The implications of the conclusions of that study are discussed.