UC Davis

Crystallisation of liquid solutions is of uttermost importance in a wide variety of processes in materials, atmospheric and food science. Depending on the type and concentration of solutes the freezing point shifts, thus allowing control on the thermodynamics of complex fluids. Here we investigate the basic principles of solute-induced freezing point depression by computing the melting temperature of a Lennard-Jones fluid with low concentrations of solutes, by means of equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations. The effect of solvophilic and weakly solvophobic solutes at low concentrations is analysed, scanning systematically the size and the concentration. We identify the range of parameters that produce deviations from the linear dependence of the freezing point on the molal concentration of solutes, expected for ideal solutions. Our simulations allow us also to link the shifts in coexistence temperature to the microscopic structure of the solutions.