title: On the influence of size, zeta potential, and state of motion of dispersed particles on the conductivity of a colloidal suspension.
abstract: The dependence of the DC conductivity of diluted colloidal suspensions on the size, zeta potential, and state of motion of the dispersed particles is analyzed both theoretically and numerically. It is shown that the simple formula that represents the conductivity as a sum of products: charge times mobility, taken over all the carriers present in the suspension, is only valid for exceedingly low values of the product kappaa. In contrast, the formulation based on the value of the dipolar coefficient of the suspended particles seems to be valid for all the range of particle sizes. This assertion is only true if the dipolar coefficient is calculated taking into account the electrophoretic motion of the particles. For very low values of the product kappaa, the dipolar coefficient of particles free to move can be several orders of magnitude larger than that of immobile particles.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Física, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, Avenida Independencia 1800, San Miguel de Tucumán, 4000, Argentina. cgrosse@herrera.unt.edu.ar
authors.forename: Constantino
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Grosse
authors.forename: Susana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pedrosa
authors.forename: Vladimir Nikolaievich
authors.initials: VN
authors.lastname: Shilov
mesh_terms: D003102:Colloids / Q000737:chemistry*; D004563:Electrochemistry; D008956:Models, Chemical
chemical_list: D003102:Colloids