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Updated: Jul 14, 2026

Quantitative and Qualitative Examination of Particle-particle Interactions Using Colloidal Probe Nanoscopy
Published on: July 18, 2014
Ion-specific forces between a colloidal nanoprobe and a charged surface
E R A Lima1, E C Biscaia, M Boström
1Escola de Química, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Cidade UniversitAria, CEP 21949-900, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
Abstract:
We investigate the effect of ion-specific potentials on the force between a nanoprobe attached to a cantilever tip, and a charged surface. The probe is treated as a spherical nanoparticle with constant charge. A modified Poisson-Boltzmann equation in bispherical coordinates is used to address this problem in a more quantitative way. We predict that the ion-specific series of measured forces depend on the sign and magnitude of surface charge densities.

