

FOLLOWUS
a.CNOOC Research Institute Co., Ltd., Beijing 100028, China
b.State Key Laboratory of Offshore Oil and Gas Exploitation, Beijing 102209, China
c.Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
d.University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
cqiuhui@iccas.ac.cn (Q.H.C.)
jiangj@iccas.ac.cn (J.J.)
Received:06 June 2025,
Revised:2025-07-04,
Accepted:07 July 2025,
Online First:24 September 2025,
Published:05 November 2025
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Wang, X. J.; Li, S. C.; Zhang, J.; Chang, Q. H.; Jiang, J. Atif-V2.0: extending classical density functional theory with interfacial statistical associating fluid theory for inhomogeneous associating fluids. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2025, 43, 2128–2137
Xiu-Jun Wang, Shi-Chao Li, Jian Zhang, et al. Atif-V2.0: Extending Classical Density Functional Theory with Interfacial Statistical Associating Fluid Theory for Inhomogeneous Associating Fluids[J]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2025, 43(11): 2128-2137.
Wang, X. J.; Li, S. C.; Zhang, J.; Chang, Q. H.; Jiang, J. Atif-V2.0: extending classical density functional theory with interfacial statistical associating fluid theory for inhomogeneous associating fluids. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2025, 43, 2128–2137 DOI: 10.1007/s10118-025-3412-9.
Xiu-Jun Wang, Shi-Chao Li, Jian Zhang, et al. Atif-V2.0: Extending Classical Density Functional Theory with Interfacial Statistical Associating Fluid Theory for Inhomogeneous Associating Fluids[J]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2025, 43(11): 2128-2137. DOI: 10.1007/s10118-025-3412-9.
We develop Atif-V2.0
an iSAFT-cDFT framework that captures both polymer topology and hydrogen bonding. It accurately predicts the interfacial structure and surface wettability transitions in polymer/oil/water mixtures
offering a powerful theoretical tool for polymer design in enhanced oil recovery.
Understanding the thermodynamic behavior of complex fluids in confined environments is critical for various industrial and natural processes including but not limited to polymer flooding enhanced oil recovery (EOR). In this work
we develop Atif-V2.0
an extended classical density functional theory (cDFT) framework that integrates the interfacial statistical associating fluid theory (iSAFT) to model multicomponent associating fluids composed of water-soluble polymers
alkanes
and water. Building on the original theoretical framework of Atif for modeling nanoconfined inhomogeneous fluids
Atif-V2.0 embeds explicit solvent and captures additional physical interactions - hydrogen bonding
which are critical in associating fluid systems. The other key feature of Atif-V2.0 is its ability to account for polymer topology. We demonstrate its capability by predicting the equilibrium structure and thermodynamic behavior of branched hydrolyzed polyacrylamide solutions near hard walls with various branching topologies
which provides a robust theoretical tool for the rational design of EOR polymers.
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