Martens CM, Vis M, Tuinier R. Origin of Anomalously Large Depletion Zones in Like-Charged Colloid-Polyelectrolyte Mixtures.
PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS 2024;
132:158103. [PMID:
38682964 DOI:
10.1103/physrevlett.132.158103]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2024] [Accepted: 03/14/2024] [Indexed: 05/01/2024]
Abstract
Depletion zones in polyelectrolyte solutions in contact with like-charged flat surfaces are investigated. Using a coupled self-consistent field and Debye-Hückel approach, an explicit expression for the thickness δ of the depletion layer is derived. It is found that δ∼δ_{n}+cκ^{-1}, where δ_{n} is the depletion thickness at a neutral surface, c is a function of the electrostatic characteristics of the system, and κ^{-1} is the Debye length. It is argued that the theory still holds beyond the mean-field approximation, which is confirmed by quantitative agreement between our theoretical results and experiments.
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