Many-Body Hydrodynamic Interactions in Charge-Stabilized Suspensions

TLDR

The study investigates hydrodynamic interaction effects in dense suspensions of charged colloidal spheres through combined experimental and theoretical analysis. X‑ray photon correlation spectroscopy measurements of the hydrodynamic function H(q) were quantitatively reproduced by a novel Stokesian dynamics simulation and a modified Beenakker–Mazur theory, demonstrating that strongly correlated particles can be described without invoking hydrodynamic screening. Published in Phys. Rev.

Abstract

In this joint experimental-theoretical work we study hydrodynamic interaction effects in dense suspensions of charged colloidal spheres. Using x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy we have determined the hydrodynamic function $H(q)$, for a varying range of electrosteric repulsion. We show that $H(q)$ can be quantitatively described by means of a novel Stokesian dynamics simulation method for charged Brownian spheres, and by a modification of a many-body theory developed originally by Beenakker and Mazur. Very importantly, we can explain the behavior of $H(q)$ for strongly correlated particles without resorting to the controversial concept of hydrodynamic screening, as was attempted in earlier work by Riese et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 5460 (2000)].