Hofmeister Effects in Colloid Science and Biology Explained by Dispersion Forces: Analytic Results for the Double Layer Interaction

Abstract

Dispersion forces between ions and surfaces have been shown to play an important role in causing the specific ion (Hofmeister) effects that are ubiquitously observed in colloidal experiments. We present explicit analytic formulae showing the effect of these ionic dispersion forces on the structure of the double layer and on the resulting pressure between surfaces.