Colloidal rod-sphere mixtures: Fluid-fluid interfaces and the Onsager limit

Using a geometry-based density functional theory we investigate the free interface between demixed bulk fluid phases of a colloidal mixture of hard spheres and vanishingly thin needles. Results are presented for the spatial and orientational density distributions of the particles, as well as for the interface tension. Density profiles display oscillations on the sphere-rich side of the interface provided the sphere liquid phase is on the oscillatory side of the Fisher-Widom line in the bulk phase diagram. Needles tend to align parallel (perpendicular) to the interface on the needle-rich (sphere-rich) side displaying biaxial (uniaxial) order. Furthermore, we generalize the theory to the Onsager limit for interacting rods, and give explicit expressions for the functional in simple geometries.