Curvature effects on electric double-layer forces. Part 1.—Comparisions with parallel geometry

Abstract

Electrostatic interactions of electric double layers bounded by curved surfaces are studied using a combination of analytical and computational methods. Unlike the case of two parallel plates, the electric double-layer force inside spherical cavities or cylindrical pores is predicted to diverge as the surface potential goes to infinity. For typical values of surface potential, the double-layer forces for curved surfaces are found to be significantly larger than the corresponding force between two parallel plates for most values of salt concentration and separation distance.