Diffusiophoresis of concentrated suspensions of spherical particles with identical ionic diffusion velocities

Diffusiophoresis of concentrated suspensions of spherical particles subject to a small electrolyte gradient is analyzed theoretically at arbitrary levels of zeta potential and double-layer thickness. The Kuwabara unit cell model is adopted to describe the system under consideration. The effect of double-layer polarization is taken into account. It is found that the diffusiophoretic mobility exhibits a local maximum as well as a local minimum with varying zeta potential or double-layer thickness, similar to the corresponding dilute dispersion. The direction of the particle movement may even change back and forth. The previous low-zeta-potential approach is found to significantly overestimate the diffusiophoretic mobility as the zeta potential goes high. The deviation may be several fold sometimes. The effect of the volume fraction ratio of colloids is also examined. The higher the ratio, the lower the mobility.

Graphical abstractPolarization effect in diffusiophoresis.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide