Electrical double layer DLVO theory

Whether the colloidal particles encountering each other will flocculate (or coalesce) will generally depend on the net interaction resulting from the combined attractive van der Waals forces and repulsive electrostatic forces resulting from the overlap of the electric double layers. This theory of colloid stability, in considerably more detail than given here, is known as the Derjaguin, Landau, Verwey, Overbeek (DLVO) theory of colloid stability (Hiemenz 1986, Verwey c Overbeek 1948). 

The well-known DLVO theory of coUoid stabiUty (10) attributes the state of flocculation to the balance between the van der Waals attractive forces and the repulsive electric double-layer forces at the Hquid—soHd interface. The potential at the double layer, called the zeta potential, is measured indirectly by electrophoretic mobiUty or streaming potential. The bridging flocculation by which polymer molecules are adsorbed on more than one particle results from charge effects, van der Waals forces, or hydrogen bonding (see Colloids). 

Two kinds of barriers are important for two-phase emulsions the electric double layer and steric repulsion from adsorbed polymers. An ionic surfactant adsorbed at the interface of an oil droplet in water orients the polar group toward the water. The counterions of the surfactant form a diffuse cloud reaching out into the continuous phase, the electric double layer. When the counterions start overlapping at the approach of two droplets, a repulsion force is experienced. The repulsion from the electric double layer is famous because it played a decisive role in the theory for colloidal stabiUty that is called DLVO, after its originators Derjaguin, Landau, Vervey, and Overbeek (14,15). The theory provided substantial progress in the understanding of colloidal stabihty, and its treatment dominated the colloid science Hterature for several decades. 

The theory has certain practical limitations. It is useful for o/w (od-in-water) emulsions but for w/o (water-in-oil) systems DLVO theory must be appHed with extreme caution (16). The essential use of the DLVO theory for emulsion technology Hes in its abdity to relate the stabdity of an o/w emulsion to the salt content of the continuous phase. In brief, the theory says that electric double-layer repulsion will stabdize an emulsion, when the electrolyte concentration in the continuous phase is less than a certain value. 

The physicochemical forces between colloidal particles are described by the DLVO theory (DLVO refers to Deijaguin and Landau, and Verwey and Overbeek). This theory predicts the potential between spherical particles due to attractive London forces and repulsive forces due to electrical double layers. This potential can be attractive, or both repulsive and attractive. Two minima may be observed The primary minimum characterizes particles that are in close contact and are difficult to disperse, whereas the secondary minimum relates to looser dispersible particles. For more details, see Schowalter (1984). Undoubtedly, real cases may be far more complex Many particles may be present, particles are not always the same size, and particles are rarely spherical. However, the fundamental physics of the problem is similar. The incorporation of all these aspects into a simulation involving tens of thousands of aggregates is daunting and models have resorted to idealized descriptions. 

The role of electrostatic repulsion in the stability of suspensions of particles in non-aqueous media is not yet clear. In order to attempt to apply theories such as the DLVO theory (to be introduced in Section 5.2) one must know the electrical potential at the surface, the Hamaker constant, and the ionic strength to be used for the non-aqueous medium these are difficult to estimate. The ionic strength will be low so the electric double layer will be thick, the electric potential will vary slowly with separation distance, and so will the net electric potential as the double layers overlap. For this reason the repulsion between particles can be expected to be weak. A summary of work on the applicability or lack of applicability of DLVO theory to non-aqueous media has been given by Morrison [268],... 

Gouy1 and Chapman,2 who were the first to predict the distribution of electrolyte ions in water around a charged flat surface, demonstrated that the ions form a diffuse layer (the electric double layer) in the liquid near the interface. The interaction between two charged surfaces, due to the overlapping of the double layers, was calculated much later by Deryaguin and Landau3 and Verwey and Overbeek.4 The stability of the colloids was successfully explained by them in terms of a balance between the double layer and van der Waals interactions (the DLVO theory).3 4... 

Theories of colloid stability based on electrostatics go way back beyond the DLVO theory, to the Gouy-Chapman theory of the electrical double layer proposed in the early 1910s and the Stem theory of counterion condensation proposed in 1924. There was much weighty speculation about the counterion distribution around colloidal particles throughout the 20th century, but nobody succeeded in measuring it until our work in 1997. This work is described in detail in Chapter 8. 

Water plays an important role in the chemistry and physics of bulk solutions and interfaces, including electrochemistry and macromolecules in solution. Usually the water is treated as a structureless, dielectric continuum, such as in the Debye-Hiickle approximation for electrolytes, the Gony-Chapman-Stern " (GCS) approximation for the electrical double layer and the DLVO approximation for colloids. Properties sensitive to the molecular nature of water cannot be determined by these theories. 

Very often, the microstructure and the macroscopic states of dispersions are determined by kinetic and thermodynamic considerations. While thermodynamics dictates what the equilibrium state will be, kinetics determine how fast that equilibrium state will be determined. While in thermodynamics the initial and final states must be determined, in kinetics the path and any energy barriers are important. The electrostatic and the electrical double-layer (the two charged portions of an inter cial region) play important roles in food emulsion stability. The Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Oveibeek (DLVO) theory of colloidal stability has been used to examine the factors affecting colloidal stability. 

DLVO [2,3] theory estimates the repulsive and attractive force due to the overlap of electric double layers and London-van der Waals force in terms of inter particle distance, respectively. The summation of them gives the total interaction force and can be used for the interpretation of colloid stability in terms of the nature of interaction force-distance curve. If a small interparticle separation (H) is assumed, van der Waals forces for a sphere and substrate can be expressed to... 

The DLVO theory, which was developed independently by Derjaguin and Landau and by Verwey and Overbeek to analyze quantitatively the influence of electrostatic forces on the stability of lyophobic colloidal particles, has been adapted to describe the influence of similar forces on the flocculation and stability of simple model emulsions stabilized by ionic emulsifiers. The charge on the surface of emulsion droplets arises from ionization of the hydrophilic part of the adsorbed surfactant and gives rise to electrical double layers. Theoretical equations, which were originally developed to deal with monodispersed inorganic solids of diameters less than 1 pm, have to be extensively modified when applied to even the simplest of emulsions, because the adsorbed emulsifier is of finite thickness and droplets, unlike solids, can deform and coalesce. Washington has pointed out that in lipid emulsions, an additional repulsive force not considered by the theory due to the solvent at close distances is also important. 

Electrical double layer, Derjaguin approximation and DLVO theory... 

Though the theory of Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek (DLVO) [17, 18] was essentially designed for hydrophobic colloids, it is often applied to the analysis of the stability of polyelectrolyte solutions. According to this approach an overlap of the electrical double-layers of two charge-like colloidal spheres in an electrolyte solution always yields a repulsive screened Coulomb interaction, and the van der Waals forces are responsible for the attraction. A number of experiments in the recent decades, however, provide evidence that the effective interparticle potential shows a long-range attraction which cannot be ascribed to the van der Waals forces [15, 88-93], In spite of numerous theoretical attempts to explain this phenomena (for a review see [7, 8, 10, 94,... 

In concentrated suspensions many body interactions between the colloidal particles determine the effective colloid-colloid interaction. Beresford-Smith and Chan (1983) [37] showed that in that case the effective colloid-colloid interaction can nevertheless be described by an effective pair interaction energy to characterise the electrical double layer interaction. This pair interaction energy also has a screened Coulomb form just as in the classical DLVO theory but the Debye screening parameter k now depends on the intrinsic coxmterion concentration and the concentration of added electrolyte in the system. This makes the effective pair energy dependent on the volume fraction of the particles (see general discussion of the paper of Beresford-Smith and Chan [38]. 

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