Chemical potential

In thermodynamics, chemical potential, also known as partial molar free energy, is a form of potential energy that can be absorbed or released during a chemical reaction or phase transition. The chemical potential of a species in a mixture is defined as the rate of change of a free energy of a thermodynamic system with respect to the change in the number of atoms or molecules of the species that are added to the system. Thus, it is the partial derivative of the free energy with respect to the amount of the species, all other species' concentrations in the mixture remaining constant. When both temperature and pressure are held constant, chemical potential is the partial molar Gibbs free energy. At chemical equilibrium or in phase equilibrium the total sum of chemical potentials is zero, as the free energy is at a minimum.

In semiconductor physics, the chemical potential of a system of electrons at a temperature of zero Kelvin is known as the Fermi energy.

Particles tend to move from higher chemical potential to lower chemical potential. In this way, chemical potential is a generalization of "potentials" in physics such as gravitational potential. When a ball rolls down a hill, it is moving from a higher gravitational potential (higher internal energy thus higher potential for work) to a lower gravitational potential (lower internal energy). In the same way, as molecules move, react, dissolve, melt, etc., they will always tend naturally to go from a higher chemical potential to a lower one, changing the particle number, which is conjugate variable to chemical potential.

A simple example is a system of dilute molecules diffusing in a homogeneous environment. In this system, the molecules tend to move from areas with high concentration to low concentration, until eventually the concentration is the same everywhere.

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