Phase transitions in pores: Experimental and simulation studies of meltingand freezing

We report both experimental measurements and molecular simulations of the m elting and freezing behavior of simple fluids in porous media. The experime ntal studies are for carbon tetrachloride and nitrobenzene in controlled po re glass (CPG) and Vycor. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was used to determine the melting point in the porous materials for each of the glas s samples. In the case of nitrobenzene (which has a nonzero dipole moment), dielectric spectroscopy was also used to determine melting points. Measure ments by the two methods were in excellent agreement. The melting point was found to be depressed relative to the bulk value for both fluids. With the exception of smallest pores, the melting point depression was proportional to the reciprocal of the pore diameter, in agreement with the Gibbs-Thomso n equation. Structural information about the different confined phases was obtained by measuring the dielectric relaxation times using dielectric spec troscopy. Monte Carlo simulations were used to determine the shift in the m elting point, T-m, for a simple fluid in pores having both repulsive and st rongly attractive walls. The strength of attraction to the wall was shown t o have a large effect on the shift in T-m, with T-m being reduced for weakl y attracting walls. For strongly attracting walls, such as graphitic carbon , the melting point increases for slit-shaped pores. For such materials, th e adsorbed contact layer is shown to melt at a higher temperature than the inner adsorbed layers. A method for calculating the free energies of solids in pores is presented, and it is shown that the solid-liquid transition is first order in these systems.