Hydrodynamic attraction of immobile particles due to interfacial forces

Abstract

Applying the method of reflections, we derive the flow pattern around a confined colloidal particle with quasislip conditions at its surface, in powers of the ratio a/h of particle radius and wall distance. The lowest order corresponds to a single reflection at the confining wall. Significant corrections occur at higher order: the linear term in a/h modifies the amplitudes of the well-known one-reflection approximation, whereas new features arise in quadratic order. Our results agree with recent experiments where thermo-osmosis drives hydrodynamic attractive forces in confined colloids.