Kinetics of charge inversion

TL;DR

This paper investigates the kinetic limitations of charge inversion in colloidal suspensions with multivalent counterions, focusing on overcharging phenomena driven by electrostatic correlations.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed analysis of the kinetic processes affecting charge inversion and overcharging in colloidal systems with multivalent ions, highlighting the dynamic aspects.

Findings

Identification of kinetic barriers to charge inversion

Insights into the role of electrostatic correlations in overcharging

Potential implications for colloidal stability and behavior

Abstract

Colloidal suspensions and polyelectrolyte solutions containing multivalent counterions can exhibit some very counter-intuitive behavior usually associated with the low temperature physics. There are two particularly striking phenomena resulting from strong electrostatic correlations. One is the like-charge attraction and the second is the polyion overcharging. In this contribution we will concentrate on the problem of overcharging. In particular we will explore the kinetic limitation to colloidal charge inversion in suspensions containing multivalent counterions.