Equilibrium and nonequilibrium thermodynamics of particle-stabilized thin liquid films.

Our recent quasi-two-dimensional thermodynamic description of thin liquid films stabilized by colloidal particles is generalized to describe nonuniform equilibrium states of films in external potentials and nonequilibrium transport processes produced in the film by gradients of thermodynamic forces. Using a Monte Carlo simulation method, we have determined equilibrium equations of state for a film stabilized by a suspension of hard spheres. Employing a multipolar-expansion method combined with a flow-reflection technique, we have also evaluated the short-time film-viscosity coefficients and collective particle mobility.