Nonrandom behavior in multicomponent lattice mixtures: Effects of solute size and shape

Abstract

A new lattice theory is proposed to describe nonrandom behavior for multicomponent mixtures of monomers, for mixtures of monomers interacting with a polymer, and for mixtures of monomers at a surface. Based on concepts first proposed by Ono and Kondo, this new approach allows one to derive local densities around each species taking into account molecular interactions as well as molecular geometry and lattice structure. This approach can be used to describe a number of very different systems in the framework of a single model. The generalizations presented here are rigorous in that no assumptions beyond those of the original (binary) theory are needed in order to treat multicomponent mixtures of molecules of different sizes and shapes.