2000/06/30 by Rene Messina, R Messina, Christian Holm +3 · 3 citations
Chemistry · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #Analogy #Charge (physics) #Counterion #Electrostatics and Colloid Interactions #Function (biology) #Ground state #Ionic bonding #Material Dynamics and Properties #Molecular dynamics #cond-mat.soft #cond-mat.stat-mech
paper · pdf · doi:10.1209/epl/i2000-00516-1
published as Europhysics Letters, VOL 51, pp. 461-467 (2000) · published version
openalex publication_date 2000/08/15 · arxiv created 2001/09/12 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
In this letter, we study the ground state of two spherical macroions of identical radius, but asymmetric bare charge ( Q A > Q B ). Electroneutrality of the system is ensured by the presence of the surrounding divalent counterions. Using Molecular Dynamics simulations within the framework of the primitive model, we show that the ground state of such a system consists of an overcharged and an undercharged colloid. For a given macroion separation the stability of these ionized-like states is a function of the difference (√ N A − √ N B ) of neutralizing counterions N A and N B . Furthermore the degree of ionization, or equivalently, the degree of overcharging, is also governed by the distance separation of the macroions. The natural analogy with ionic bonding is briefly discussed.