A droplet near the critical point: the divergence of Tolman's length

Abstract

Application of "complete scaling" [Kim et al., Phys. Rev. E 67, 061506 (2003); Anisimov and Wang, Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 25703 (2006)] to the interfacial behavior of fluids shows that Tolman's length, a curvature correction to the surface tension, diverges at the critical point of fluids much more strongly than is commonly believed. The amplitude of the divergence depends on the degree of asymmetry in fluid phase coexistence. A new universal amplitude ratio, which involves this asymmetry, is introduced. In highly asymmetric fluids and fluid mixtures the Tolman length may become large enough near criticality to be detected in precise experiments with microcapillaries and in simulations.