Theory of Soret Coefficients in Binary Organic Solvents

Thermodiffusion in binary molecular liquids is examined using the nonequilibrium thermodynamic model, where the thermodynamic parameters are calculated using equations based on statistical mechanics. In this approach, thermodiffusion is quantified through the variation in binary chemical potential and its temperature and concentration dependence. The model is applied to solutions of organic solvents, in order to compare our theoretical results to experimental results from the literature. A measurable contribution of the orientation-dependent Keezom interaction is shown, where the possible orientations are averaged using the Boltzmann weighting factor. Calculations of enthalpies of evaporation from the model yield good agreement with experimental values from the literature. However, calculations of the associated energetic parameters were several times larger than those reported in the literature from numeric simulations of material transport.