Ionic density distributions near the charged colloids: Spherical electric double layers

Abstract

We have studied the structure of the spherical electric double layers on charged colloids by a density functional perturbation theory, which is based both on the modified fundamental-measure theory for the hard spheres and on the one-particle direct correlation functional (DCF) for the electronic residual contribution. The contribution of one-particle DCF has been approximated as the functional integration of the second-order correlation function of the ionic fluids in a bulk phase. The calculated result is in very good agreement with the computer simulations for the ionic density distributions and the zeta potentials over a wide range of macroion sizes and electrolyte concentrations, and compares with the results of Yu et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 120, 7223 (2004)] and modified Poisson-Boltzmann approximation [L. B. Bhuiyan and C. W. Outhwaite, Condens. Matter Phys. 8, 287 (2005)]. The present theory is able to provide interesting insights about the charge inversion phenomena occurring at the interface.