COMPUTER-SIMULATION OF THE CHEMICAL-POTENTIAL AND ADSORPTION-ISOTHERMOF HARD-SPHERES IN A HARD SLIT-LIKE PORE

Based on a recently proposed efficient method for calculating the chem ical potential of hard-sphere fluids using computer simulations in the NVT ensemble, the properties are studied of a hard-sphere fluid in a planar slit in equilibrium with its corresponding bulk fluid. Several quantities of interest are calculated up to very high densities, where other available methods become imprecise. The excess chemical potenti al beta mu(s)(e) of spheres in the slit is found as a function of the overall slit density rho(s), and this is used to calculate the adsorpt ion isotherm, describing the relationship between equilibrium slit and bulk densities. Using these results, along with simulation results fo r the density profile rho(z), the excess chemical potential beta mu(e) (z) of a hard-sphere cavity (which within the slit is equivalent to a sphere) is computed as a function of position within the slit.