Renormalized jellium model for colloidal mixtures

TL;DR

This paper introduces an efficient renormalized jellium model for polydisperse colloidal mixtures, accurately predicting electrostatic interactions and matching Monte Carlo simulation results.

Contribution

It develops a self-consistent, species-independent potential approach for polydisperse colloids, improving modeling efficiency and accuracy.

Findings

Excellent agreement with Monte Carlo simulations.

Model effectively accounts for size, charge, and density variations.

Provides a practical tool for colloidal mixture analysis.

Abstract

In an attempt to quantify the role of polydispersity in colloidal suspensions, we present an efficient implementation of the renormalized jellium model for a mixture of spherical charged colloids. The different species may have different size, charge and density. Advantage is taken from the fact that the electric potential pertaining to a given species obeys a Poisson's equation that is species independent; only boundary conditions do change from a species to the next. All species are coupled through the renormalized background (jellium) density, that is determined self-consistently. The corresponding predictions are compared to the results of Monte Carlo simulations of binary mixtures, where Coulombic interactions are accounted for exactly, at the primitive model level (structureless solvent with fixed dielectric permittivity). An excellent agreement is found.