Self-diffusion and structural properties of confined fluids in dynamic coexistence

Self-diffusion and radial distribution functions are studied in a strongly confined Lennard-Jones fluid. Surprisingly, in the solid–liquid phase transition region, where the system exhibits dynamic coexistence, the self-diffusion constants are shown to present up to three-fold variations from solid to liquid phases at fixed temperature, while the radial distribution function corresponding to both the liquid and the solid phases are essentially indistinguishable.This research was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through grant MINIELPHO FIS2012-36113-C03. AGM acknowledges financial support by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Contract Nos. MAT2011-29194-C02-01, MAT2014-58860-P) and by the Comunidad de Madrid (Contract No. S2013/MIT-2740). LSFP and FS acknowledge financial support by the Swiss National Science Foundation through the National Centre of Competence in Research Bio-Inspired Materials.Peer reviewe