On the calculation of the structure of charge-stabilized colloidal dispersions using density-dependent potentials

J Phys Condens Matter. 2012 Feb 15;24(6):065102. doi: 10.1088/0953-8984/24/6/065102. Epub 2012 Jan 10.

Abstract

The structure of charge-stabilized colloidal dispersions has been studied through a one-component model using a Yukawa potential with density-dependent parameters examined with integral equation theory and Monte Carlo simulations. Partial thermodynamic consistency was guaranteed by considering the osmotic pressure of the dispersion from the approximate mean-field renormalized jellium and Poisson-Boltzmann cell models. The colloidal structures could be accurately described by the Ornstein-Zernike equation with the Rogers-Young closure by using the osmotic pressure from the renormalized jellium model. Although we explicitly show that the correct effective pair-potential obtained from the inverse Monte Carlo method deviates from the Yukawa shape, the osmotic pressure constraint allows us to have a good description of the colloidal structure without losing information on the system thermodynamics. Our findings are corroborated by primitive model simulations of salt-free colloidal dispersions.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't