Abstract
We describe a charge-stabilized colloidal suspension within aPoisson-Boltzmann cell model and calculate the free energy as well asthe compressibility as a function of colloidal density. The samequantities are also calculated from the linearized Poisson-Boltzmannequation. Comparing nonlinear with linear theory, we test the qualityof different linearization schemes. For concentrated suspensions,linearization about the Donnan potential is shown to be preferable tostandard Debye-Hückel linearization. We also show that thevolume term theory proposed earlier follows from a linearization aboutthe Donnan potential. Using this linearization scheme, we find agas-liquid phase coexistence in linear, but not in nonlineartheory. This result may imply that predictions of a spinodalinstability in highly de-ionized colloidal suspensions are spurious.
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