Adsorption of a Hard Sphere Fluid in a Disordered Polymerized Matrix: Application of the Replica Ornstein-Zernike...

A model of hard spheres adsorbed in disordered porous media is studied using the associative replica Ornstein-Zernike (ROZ) equations. Extending previous studies of adsorption in a hard sphere matrices, we investigate a polymerized matrix. We consider an associating fluid of hard spheres with two intracore attractive sites per particle; consequently chains consisting of overlapping hard spheres can be formed due to the chemical association. This is the generalization of the model with sites on the surface of Wertheim that has been studied in the bulk by Chang and Sandler. The matrix structure is obtained in the polymer Percus-Yevick approximation. We solve the ROZ equations in the associative hypernetted chain approximation. The pair distribution functions, the fluid compressibility, the equation of state and chemical potential of the adsorbed fluid are obtained and discussed. It is shown that the adsorption of a hard sphere fluid in a matrix at given density, but consisting of longer chains of overlapping hard spheres, is higher than the adsorption of this fluid in a hard sphere matrix.