2002/10/09 by Lydéric Bocquet, Lyderic Bocquet, Emmanuel Trizac +1 · 4 citations
Chemistry · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Charge (physics) #Colloid #Colloidal particle #Electrolyte #Electrostatics #Electrostatics and Colloid Interactions #Material Dynamics and Properties #Nonlinear system #Polyelectrolyte #Renormalization #Saturation (graph theory) #Spectroscopy and Quantum Chemical Studies #cond-mat.soft
paper · pdf · doi:10.1063/1.1511507
published as J. Chem. Phys. 117, 8138 (2002) · 23 pages, 15 figures
arxiv created 2002/10/09 · openalex publication_date 2002/10/17 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Because micro-ions accumulate around highly charged colloidal particles in electrolyte solutions, the relevant parameter to compute their interactions is not the bare charge, but an effective (or renormalized) quantity, whose value is sensitive to the geometry of the colloid, the temperature or the presence of added-salt. This nonlinear screening effect is a central feature in the field of colloidal suspensions or polyelectrolyte solutions. We propose a simple method to predict effective charges of highly charged macro-ions, that is reliable for monovalent electrolytes (and counterions) in the colloidal limit (large size compared to both screening length and Bjerrum length). Taking reference to the non linear Poisson–Boltzmann theory, the method is successfully tested against the geometry of the macro-ions, the possible confinement in a Wigner–Seitz cell, and the presence of added salt. Moreover, our results are corroborated by various experimental measures reported in the literature. This approach provides a useful route to incorporate the nonlinear effects of charge renormalization within a linear theory for systems where electrostatic interactions play an important role.