Phase separation in mixtures of Yukawa and charged Yukawa particles from Gibbs ensemble Monte Carlo simulations and the mean spherical approximation.

The phase equilibrium of mixtures of Yukawa and charged Yukawa particles is studied by means of Gibbs ensemble Monte Carlo (GEMC) simulation method and the mean spherical approximation (MSA). The strength of the Coulomb energy compared to that of the Yukawa attraction is characterized by a coupling constant. For low coupling constants a classical vapor–liquid phase separation appears with a good agreement between GEMC and the MSA. For high coupling constant, a phase separation between a salt poor and a salt rich phase occurs that resembles the phase equilibrium behavior of the solvent primitive model. © 2004 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]