Electrolytes at spherical dielectric interfaces.
A variational theory is developed and applied to study the properties of dielectric spheres immersed in a symmetric electrolyte solution. In the limit that the radius of the sphere becomes much larger than the Debye screening length, the system reduces to that of a planar dielectric interface. For this case, the excess surface tension obtained by the variational theory reduces to the Onsager-Samaras [J. Chem. Phys. 2, 528 (1934)] limiting law at low electrolyte concentrations. As the radius of the dielectric sphere decreases, the excess surface tension also decreases. The implications of this work to protein-salt interactions and the salting out of proteins are discussed.
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School of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science, The University of Manchester, P.O. Box 88, Sackville Street, Manchester M60 1QD, United Kingdom.
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D002627:Chemistry, Physical / Q000379:methods*; D004563:Electrochemistry; D004573:Electrolytes; D015233:Models, Statistical; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D016012:Poisson Distribution; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry; D012492:Salts / Q000737:chemistry; D055672:Static Electricity; D013499:Surface Properties; D013816:Thermodynamics
D004573:Electrolytes; D011506:Proteins; D012492:Salts