Criticality in confined ionic fluids

A theory of a confined two-dimensional electrolyte is presented. The positive and negative ions, interacting by a 1/r potential, are constrained to move on an interface separating two solvents with dielectric constants ɛ₁ and ɛ₂. It is shown that the Debye-Hückel type of theory predicts that this two-dimensional Coulomb fluid should undergo a phase separation into a coexisting liquid (high-density) and gas (low-density) phases. We argue, however, that the formation of polymerlike chains of alternating positive and negative ions can prevent this phase transition from taking place.