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Strong-coupling effective-field theory for asymmetrically charged plates with counterions only

Šamaj, Ladislav ; Trizac, Emmanuel and Trulsson, Martin LU orcid (2024) In Physical Review E 110(1).
Abstract

We are interested in rationalizing the phenomenon of like-charge attraction between charged bodies, such as a pair of colloids, in the strong coupling regime. The two colloids are modelled as uniformly charged parallel plates, neutralized by mobile counterions. In an earlier work [Palaia et al., J. Phys. Chem. B 126, 3143 (2022)1520-610610.1021/acs.jpcb.2c00028], we developed an effective-field theory for symmetric plates, stemming from the ground-state description that holds at infinite couplings. Here, we generalize the approach to the asymmetric case, where the plates bear charges of the same sign, but of different values. In the symmetric situation, the mobile ions, which are localized in the vicinity of the two plates, share... (More)

We are interested in rationalizing the phenomenon of like-charge attraction between charged bodies, such as a pair of colloids, in the strong coupling regime. The two colloids are modelled as uniformly charged parallel plates, neutralized by mobile counterions. In an earlier work [Palaia et al., J. Phys. Chem. B 126, 3143 (2022)1520-610610.1021/acs.jpcb.2c00028], we developed an effective-field theory for symmetric plates, stemming from the ground-state description that holds at infinite couplings. Here, we generalize the approach to the asymmetric case, where the plates bear charges of the same sign, but of different values. In the symmetric situation, the mobile ions, which are localized in the vicinity of the two plates, share equally between both of them. Here, the sharing is nontrivial, depending both on the coupling parameter and the distance between the plates. We thus introduce a counterion occupation parameter that is determined variationally to ensure minimum of the free energy. The analytical results for the pressure as a function of the plate-plate distance d agree well with our Monte Carlo data, in a large interval of strong and intermediate coupling constants Ξ. We show in particular that within this description there exists a range of large distances at which the attractive pressure features a 1/d2 behavior.

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author
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type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Physical Review E
volume
110
issue
1
article number
014609
publisher
American Physical Society
external identifiers
  • scopus:85199942597
  • pmid:39160949
ISSN
2470-0045
DOI
10.1103/PhysRevE.110.014609
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
e64ffdb8-51af-4761-8371-16a4e613887b
date added to LUP
2024-10-03 14:58:17
date last changed
2024-10-04 02:51:35
@article{e64ffdb8-51af-4761-8371-16a4e613887b,
  abstract     = {{<p>We are interested in rationalizing the phenomenon of like-charge attraction between charged bodies, such as a pair of colloids, in the strong coupling regime. The two colloids are modelled as uniformly charged parallel plates, neutralized by mobile counterions. In an earlier work [Palaia et al., J. Phys. Chem. B 126, 3143 (2022)1520-610610.1021/acs.jpcb.2c00028], we developed an effective-field theory for symmetric plates, stemming from the ground-state description that holds at infinite couplings. Here, we generalize the approach to the asymmetric case, where the plates bear charges of the same sign, but of different values. In the symmetric situation, the mobile ions, which are localized in the vicinity of the two plates, share equally between both of them. Here, the sharing is nontrivial, depending both on the coupling parameter and the distance between the plates. We thus introduce a counterion occupation parameter that is determined variationally to ensure minimum of the free energy. The analytical results for the pressure as a function of the plate-plate distance d agree well with our Monte Carlo data, in a large interval of strong and intermediate coupling constants Ξ. We show in particular that within this description there exists a range of large distances at which the attractive pressure features a 1/d2 behavior.</p>}},
  author       = {{Šamaj, Ladislav and Trizac, Emmanuel and Trulsson, Martin}},
  issn         = {{2470-0045}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  publisher    = {{American Physical Society}},
  series       = {{Physical Review E}},
  title        = {{Strong-coupling effective-field theory for asymmetrically charged plates with counterions only}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.110.014609}},
  doi          = {{10.1103/PhysRevE.110.014609}},
  volume       = {{110}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}