Effect of geometrical confinement on the interaction between charged colloidal suspensions.
The effective interaction between charged colloidal particles confined between two planar like-charged walls is investigated using computer simulations of the primitive model describing asymmetric electrolytes. In detail, we calculate the effective force acting onto a single macroion and onto a macroion pair in the presence of slitlike confinement. For moderate Coulomb coupling, we find that this force is repulsive. Under strong-coupling conditions, however, the sign of the force depends on the distance to the plates and on the interparticle distance. In particular, the particle-plate interaction becomes strongly attractive for small distances which may explain the occurrence of colloidal crystalline layers near the plates observed in recent experiments.
Allahyarov
E
E
Institut für Theoretische Physik II, Heinrich-Heine-Universität, Düsseldorf, D-40225 Düsseldorf, Germany. allahyar@thphy.uni-duesseldorf.de
D'Amico
I
I
Löwen
H
H