On the Use of the Hypothesis of Local Electroneutrality in Colloidal Suspensions for the Calculation of Their Dielectric Properties

The validity of the hypothesis of electroneutrality outside the double layer of a suspended particle with an applied AC electric field is analyzed. It is shown that the electrolyte solution remains electroneutral for distances greater than a few Debye lengths from the particle surface only when the...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Lopez-Garcia, J.J., Grosse, Constantino, Horno, J.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2005
País:Argentina
Institución:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
Repositorio:CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/101985
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/11336/101985
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1.3
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1
Descripción
Sumario:The validity of the hypothesis of electroneutrality outside the double layer of a suspended particle with an applied AC electric field is analyzed. It is shown that the electrolyte solution remains electroneutral for distances greater than a few Debye lengths from the particle surface only when the diffusion coefficients of the two ion species are identical. On the contrary, in the general case, a volume charge density around the particle builds up, which extends to distances that are proportional to the square root of the effective diffusion coefficient value divided by the frequency. These distances can easily attain many particle radii. Numerical results for both uncharged and charged suspended particles are presented, and a correction to existing analytical expressions for the field-induced ion distributions around uncharged particles (Grosse, C., López-García, J.J., Horno, J., J. Phys. Chem., 108, (2004), 8397) is given. While the charge densities far from the particle are usually very weak, it is shown that they strongly contribute to the dipole coefficient value and, therefore, to the calculated values of the permittivity and conductivity increments. The errors that would be committed if these charge densities were ignored, assuming local electroneutrality and determining the dipole coefficient at a few Debye lengths from the particle surface, are analyzed and shown to be substantial.