Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Vol.272, No.2, 430-437, 2004
Attractive interactions in dispersions of identical charged colloidal particles: a Monte Carlo simulation
Using the Debye-Huckel pair potential, the collective interactions between identical charged particles were examined via Monte Carlo simulations. The results have shown that when the number of charges per particle and the particle volume fraction were sufficiently large, the pair long-range electrostatic repulsion generated an effective attractive interaction between identical charged particles because of many-body effects. Disordered liquid-like structures, ordered crystal-like structures, ordered structures dispersed in disordered ones, and disordered structures dispersed in ordered ones have been found. The structures are dependent on the volume fraction and charge of the particles, as well as on the electrolyte concentration. (C) 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights-reserved.