Physics – Condensed Matter – Soft Condensed Matter
Scientific paper
2005-07-22
Phys. Rev. E 72, 041402 (2005)
Physics
Condensed Matter
Soft Condensed Matter
13 pages, 2 figures
Scientific paper
10.1103/PhysRevE.72.041402
We develop a general formalism to investigate the effect of quenched fixed charge disorder on effective electrostatic interactions between charged surfaces in a one-component (counterion-only) Coulomb fluid. Analytical results are explicitly derived for two asymptotic and complementary cases: i) mean-field or Poisson-Boltzmann limit (including Gaussian-fluctuations correction), which is valid for small electrostatic coupling, and ii) strong-coupling limit, where electrostatic correlations mediated by counterions become significantly large as, for instance, realized in systems with high-valency counterions. In the particular case of two apposed and ideally polarizable planar surfaces with equal mean surface charge, we find that the effect of the disorder is nil on the mean-field level and thus the plates repel. In the strong-coupling limit, however, the effect of charge disorder turns out to be additive in the free energy and leads to an enhanced long-range attraction between the two surfaces. We show that the equilibrium inter-plate distance between the surfaces decreases for elevated disorder strength (i.e. for increasing mean-square deviation around the mean surface charge), and eventually tends to zero, suggesting a disorder-driven collapse transition.
Naji Ali
Podgornik Rudolf
No associations
LandOfFree
Quenched Charge Disorder and Coulomb Interactions does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with Quenched Charge Disorder and Coulomb Interactions, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Quenched Charge Disorder and Coulomb Interactions will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-706537