Free surface potential, calculation

Here (in contrast to the approach taken in Chapter 2) we do not assume that the energy of each valence bond structure is correlated with its solvation-free energy. Instead we use the actual ground-state potential surface to calculate the ground-state free energy. To see how this is actually done let s consider as a test case an SN2 type reaction which can be written as... 

The Vacuum Reference The first reference in the double-reference method enables the surface potential of the metal slab to be related to the vacuum scale. This relationship is determined by calculating the workfunction of the model metal/water/adsorbate interface, including a few layers of water molecules. The workfunction, — < ermi. is then used to calibrate the system Fermi level to an electrochemical reference electrode. It is convenient to choose the normal hydrogen electrode (NHE), as it has been experimentally and theoretically determined that the NHE potential is —4.8 V with respect to the free electron in a vacuum [Wagner, 1993]. We therefore apply the relationship... 

The disjoining pressure vs. thickness isotherms of thin liquid films (TFB) were measured between hexadecane droplets stabilized by 0.1 wt% of -casein. The profiles obey classical electrostatic behavior. Figure 2.20a shows the experimentally obtained rt(/i) isotherm (dots) and the best fit using electrostatic standard equations. The Debye length was calculated from the electrolyte concentration using Eq. (2.11). The only free parameter was the surface potential, which was found to be —30 mV. It agrees fairly well with the surface potential deduced from electrophoretic measurements for jS-casein-covered particles (—30 to —36 mV). 

Figure 6.11 Gibbs free interaction energy (in units of ki>T) versus distance for two identical spherical particles of R = 100 nm radius in water, containing different concentrations of monovalent salt. The calculation is based on DLVO theory using Eqs. (6.57) and (6.32). The Hamaker constant was Ah = 7 x 10 21 J, the surface potential was set to )/>o = 30 mV. The insert shows the weak attractive interaction (secondary energy minimum) at very large distances.

Figure 13.1 Calculated energy profiles of attractive van der Waals ([cir]) and repulsive electrostatic (A) interactions between two oil droplets coated with a / -casein adsorbed layer. The diameter of each droplet was assumed to be 4 pm. The surface potential ipa for the / -casein layer was assumed to be -20 mV. The thick solid line represents the sum of attractive van der Waals and repulsive electrostatic interactions. The thick broken line represents the net free energy profile as a function of distance when steric repulsion is also taken into account. From Damodaran [293], Copyright 1997, Dekker.

A lattice model for an electrolyte solution is proposed, which assumes that the hydrated ion occupies ti (i = 1, 2) sites on a water lattice. A lattice site is available to an ion i only if it is free (it is occupied by a water molecule, which does not hydrate an ion) and has also at least (i, - 1) first-neighbors free. The model accounts for the correlations between the probabilities of occupancy of adjacent sites and is used to calculate the excluded volume (lattice site exclusion) effect on the double layer interactions. It is shown that at high surface potentials the thickness of the double layer generated near a charged surface is increased, when compared to that predicted by the Poisson-Boltzmann treatment. However, at low surface potentials, the diffuse double layer can be slightly compressed, if the hydrated co-ions are larger than the hydrated counterions. The finite sizes of the ions can lead to either an increase or even a small decrease of the double layer repulsion. The effect can be strongly dependent on the hydration numbers of the two species of ions. 

The change in the chemical free energy was calculated using several expressions, namely, eq 7 (the exact expression), eq 19 (the constant surface charge approximation ), eq 20b (the lower bound), eq 20c (the upper bound), and eq 20d (the constant surface potential approximation ). 

The present approach reduces to the traditional ones within their range of application (imaginary charging processes for double layer interactions between systems of arbitrary shape and interactions either at constant surface potential or at constant surface charge density, and the procedure based on Langmuir equation for interactions between planar, parallel plates and arbitrary surface conditions). It can be, however, employed to calculate the interaction free energy between systems of arbitrary shape and any surface conditions, for which the traditional approaches cannot be used. 

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