@Article{CiCP-22-1,
author = {Pei, Liu and Manman, Ma and Zhenli, Xu},
title = {Understanding Depletion Induced Like-Charge Attraction from Self-Consistent Field Model},
journal = {Communications in Computational Physics},
year = {2017},
volume = {22},
number = {1},
pages = {95--111},
abstract = {<p style="text-align: justify;">The interaction force between likely charged particles/surfaces is usually
repulsive due to the Coulomb interaction. However, the counterintuitive like-charge
attraction in electrolytes has been frequently observed in experiments, which has been
theoretically debated for a long time. It is widely known that the mean field Poisson-Boltzmann theory cannot explain and predict this anomalous feature since it ignores
many-body properties. In this paper, we develop efficient algorithm and perform the
force calculation between two interfaces using a set of self-consistent equations which
properly takes into account the electrostatic correlation and the dielectric-boundary effects. By solving the equations and calculating the pressure with the Debye-charging
process, we show that the self-consistent equations could be used to study the attraction between like-charge surfaces from weak-coupling to mediate-coupling regimes,
and that the attraction is due to the electrostatics-driven entropic force which is significantly enhanced by the dielectric depletion of mobile ions. A systematic investigation
shows that the interaction forces can be tuned by material permittivity, ionic size and
valence, and salt concentration, and that the like-charge attraction exists only for specific regime of these parameters.</p>},
issn = {1991-7120},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.4208/cicp.OA-2016-0104},
url = {https://global-sci.com/article/80132/understanding-depletion-induced-like-charge-attraction-from-self-consistent-field-model}
}