Free Energy Landscape of Metastable Liquids
Keywords:
Density Functional Theory, Free Energy Landscapes, Metastable LiquidAbstract
The normal liquid state is characterized by a spatially uniform density distribution. At the freezing point, the liquid transforms into a regular crystalline state. Apart from the crystalline state, amorphous states are also observed if the freezing is avoided and is super-cooled or equivalently super-compressed beyond the freezing point. Crystals, amorphous phases, and soft matters like colloids, liquid crystals, and poly-disperse liquids are all characterized by microscopically inhomogeneous density states. By utilizing the properties of the corresponding homogeneous counterparts (i.e., uniform liquid state), the thermodynamic functions of such structured systems can be successfully described [1]. The density functional theory is a good approach for understanding different phenomena like freezing, melting, and nucleation in the inhomogeneous disordered system.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.24321/2455.3093.202504
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