Slit-pore sorption isotherms by the grand-canonical Monte Carlo method

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Abstract
The grand-canonical ensemble Monte Carlo method has been used to study sorption isotherms (plots of density versus chemical potential) for a rare-gas fluid in a slit-pore whose plane-parallel walls comprise rigidly fixed rare-gas atoms. Hysteresis in the vicinity of the capillary-condensation transition is evinced by fluctuations between liquid and vapour phases as the length of the Markov chain increases (at fixed chemical potential). The degree of hysteresis, which reflects the non-ergodic behaviour of the Markov chain, can be diminished by increasing the surface area of the pore wall and by extending the Markov chain. It is concluded that hysteresis is a non-equilibrium phenomenon that cannot be properly treated by equilibrium statistical-mechanical methods.

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