Diffusiophoresis of concentrated suspensions of spherical particles with charge-regulated surface: polarization...

Diffusiophoresis in concentrated suspensions of spherical colloids with charge-regulated surface is investigated theoretically. The charge-regulated surface considered here is the generalization of conventional constant surface potential and constant surface charge density situations. Kuwabara's unit cell model is adopted to describe the system and a pseudospectral method based on Chebyshev polynomial is employed to solve the governing general electrokinetic equations. Excellent agreements with experimental data available in literature were obtained for the limiting case of constant surface potential and very dilute suspension. It is found, among other things, that in general the larger the number of dissociated functional groups on particle surface is, the higher the particle surface potential, hence the larger the magnitude of the particle mobility. The electric potential on particle surface depends on both the concentration of dissociated hydrogen ions and the concentration of electrolyte in the solution. The electric potential on particle surface turns out to be the dominant factor in the determination of the eventual particle diffusiophoretic mobility. Local maximum of diffusiophoretic mobility as a function of double layer thickness is observed. Its reason and influence is discussed. Corresponding behavior for the constant potential situation, however, may yield a monotonously increasing profile.