Clay Swelling and Colloid Stability. Martin Smalley. CRC Press, Taylor and Francis Group, (2006), 272 pp. [ISBN 0-8493-8079-0] Price $139.95.

Abstract

The DLVO (Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek) theory, formulated by Derjaguin and Landau (1941) and later independently by Vervey and Overbeek (1948), laid the foundations for our understanding of particle interactions in colloidal lyophobic dispersions and their kinetic stabilities. The configuration of the electrical double layers had been described previously by the Gouy-Chapman model with refinements later by many other investigators. In this model the counterions were reduced to point charges, liquid media were represented by a uniform dielectric constant, and colloidal particles by flat and uniformly charged large surfaces. The particle interactions in DLVO theory were assumed to be essentially controlled by two opposing forces, the screened Coulombic repulsion and by the London-van der Waals attraction. These oversimplifications have caused several problems in the application of the DLVO theory since its inception. For the last 50 years, various refinements and corrections were proposed to explain these discrepancies or to reconcile the theory with the observed data. This monograph calls an end to these corrections for the DLVO theory both on experimental and theoretical grounds. It is, therefore, a very important publication. It will be beneficial to the reader if I present this review in two parts: Part 1 presents the author’s own experimental data collected over the years that led him down the path for the formulation of a new theory for the stability of hydrophobic colloids. Chapters 1–7 are devoted to this section which is the essence of the monograph. Part 2 discusses the configurations of counterions and water molecules in the interfaces between macro-ions i.e. charged platy colloidal particles in Chapters 8–10. The effects of a special polymer, PEO, on the stability of n -C4H9NH+3-vermiculite dispersion, on its interlamellar separation, and the stacking order and crystallinity of the vermiculite layers are examined in Chapters …