Nonlinear screening and gas-liquid separation in suspensions of charged colloids.
We calculate phase diagrams of charged colloidal spheres (valency Z and radius a) in a 1:1 electrolyte from multicentered nonlinear Poisson-Boltzmann theory. Our theory takes into account charge renormalization of the colloidal interactions and volume terms due to many-body effects. For valencies as small as Z = 1 and as large as 10(4) we find a gas-liquid spinodal instability in the colloid-salt phase diagram provided Z lambdaB/a > or similar 24+/-1, where lambdaB is the Bjerrum length.
Zoetekouw
Bas
B
Institute for Theoretical Physics, Utrecht University, Leuvenlaan 4, 3584CE Utrecht, the Netherlands.
van Roij
René
R