Polarity Inversion of ζ-Potential in Concentrated Colloidal Dispersions

Long-range forces and charge inversions in model charged colloidal dispersions at finite concentration

In charged colloidal dispersion systems the interest is in finding their stability conditions, phase transitions, and transport properties, either in bulk or confinement, among other physicochemical quantities, for which the knowledge of the dispersions' molecular structure and the associated macroion-macroion forces is crucial. To investigate these phenomena simple models have been proposed. Most of the theoretical and simulation studies on charged particles suspensions are at infinite dilution conditions. Hence, these studies have been focused on the electrolyte structure around one or two isolated central particle(s), where phenomena as charge reversal, charge inversion and surface charge amplification have been shown to be relevant. However, experimental studies at finite volume fraction exhibit interesting phenomenology which imply very long-range correlations. A simple, yet useful, model is the Colloidal Primitive Model, in which the colloidal dispersion is modeled as a mixture of size (and charge) asymmetrical hard spheres, at finite volume fraction. In this paper we review recent integral equations solutions for this model, where very long-range attractive-repulsive forces, as well as new long-range, giant charge inversions are reported. The calculated macroions radial distribution functions, charge distributions, and macroion-macroion forces are qualitatively consistent with existing experimental results, and Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics simulations.

Outsized Amplitude-Modulated Structure of Very-Long-Range Charge Inversions in Model Colloidal Dispersions

Most theoretical and simulation studies on charged suspensions are at infinite dilution and are focused on the electrolyte structure around one or two isolated particles. Some classic experimental studies with latex particle solutions exhibit interesting phenomenology which imply very-long-range correlations. Here, we apply an integral equation theory to a model charged macroion suspension, at finite volume fraction, and find an amplitude-modulated charge inversion structure, with outsized amplitudes and of very-long-range extension. These inversions are different from the standard charge inversions in that they occur at finite macroions' volume fraction, far away from the central macroion, are outsized, and increase, not decrease, with increasing particle charge and distance to the central particle, which is indicative of long-range correlations. We find our results to be in agreement with our Monte Carlo simulations and qualitatively consistent with existing experimental results.

Structure of spherical electric double layers with fully asymmetric electrolytes: a systematic study by Monte Carlo simulations and density functional theory

A systematic investigation of the spherical electric double layers with the electrolytes having size as well as charge asymmetry is carried out using density functional theory and Monte Carlo simulations. The system is considered within the primitive model, where the macroion is a structureless hard spherical colloid, the small ions as charged hard spheres of different size, and the solvent is represented as a dielectric continuum. The present theory approximates the hard sphere part of the one particle correlation function using a weighted density approach whereas a perturbation expansion around the uniform fluid is applied to evaluate the ionic contribution. The theory is in quantitative agreement with Monte Carlo simulation for the density and the mean electrostatic potential profiles over a wide range of electrolyte concentrations, surface charge densities, valence of small ions, and macroion sizes. The theory provides distinctive evidence of charge and size correlations within the electrode-electrolyte interface in spherical geometry.

Dynamic electrophoresis of charged colloids in an oscillating electric field

The dynamics of charged colloids in an electrolyte solution is studied using direct numerical simulations via the smoothed profile method. We calculated the complex electrophoretic mobility μ(ω) of the charged colloids under an oscillating electric field of frequency ω. We show the existence of three dynamically distinct regimes, determined by the momentum diffusion and ionic diffusion time scales. The present results agree well with approximate theories based on the cell model in dilute suspensions; however, systematic deviations between the simulation results and theoretical predictions are observed as the volume fraction of colloids is increased, similar to the case of constant electric fields.

Numerical electrokinetics

A new lattice method is presented in order to efficiently solve the electrokinetic equations, which describe the structure and dynamics of the charge cloud and the flow field surrounding a single charged colloidal sphere, or a fixed array of such objects. We focus on calculating the electrophoretic mobility in the limit of small driving field, and systematically linearize the equations with respect to the latter. This gives rise to several subproblems, each of which is solved by a specialized numerical algorithm. For the total problem we combine these solvers in an iterative procedure. Applying this method, we study the effect of the screening mechanism (salt screening versus counterion screening) on the electrophoretic mobility, and find a weak non-trivial dependence, as expected from scaling theory. Furthermore, we find that the orientation of the charge cloud (i.e. its dipole moment) depends on the value of the colloid charge, as a result of a competition between electrostatic and hydrodynamic effects.