Liquid-vapor equilibria and interfacial properties of n-alkanes and perfluoroalkanes by molecular simulation

A molecular dynamics study is presented to assess the performance of a united-atom model in the prediction of liquid-vapor interfacial properties for short-chain perfluoroalkanes and their alkane counterparts. In particular, the ability of this model to discriminate between the surface-energy values of these two types of compounds was investigated over a wide temperature range corresponding to the liquid-vapor region. Comparisons with available experimental data and surface-tension predictions given by other force-field parameterizations, including those based on the more computationally demanding all-atom method, were performed to gauge the viability of this model. It was found that the model used in this study captures qualitatively the expected behavior of surface energy between alkanes and perfluoroalkanes and yields values that are in excellent agreement with experimental data, especially in the high-temperature limit as the critical temperature is approached.