Double layer interactions in mono- and divalent electrolytes: A comparison of the anisotropic HNC theory and Monte Carlo simulations

Abstract

The interaction between charged surfaces in 1:1, 1:2, and 2:2 electrolyte solutions at various concentrations have been calculated using the anisotropic hypernetted chain (HNC) theory and Monte Carlo (MC) simulations. For divalent counterions, the surface interaction has an attractive minimum at short separations. This minimum turns more attractive at increasing electrolyte concentration, while the interaction at somewhat larger separations becomes oscillatory. The agreement between the HNC and the MC results is excellent for the 1:2 and 2:2 electrolyte systems. For 1:1 electrolytes the surface interaction is repulsive except at high concentrations at which it shows a weak attractive minimum. The HNC and the MC results agree quantitatively except in a few angstroms wide region at short separations, where the agreement is only qualitative due to a slight difference in the contributions from the hard core interactions. This is a consequence of the neglect of the short-range bridge function in the HNC approximation.