Electrolytes at spherical dielectric interfaces

J Chem Phys. 2005 Nov 1;123(17):174702. doi: 10.1063/1.2102890.

Abstract

A variational theory is developed and applied to study the properties of dielectric spheres immersed in a symmetric electrolyte solution. In the limit that the radius of the sphere becomes much larger than the Debye screening length, the system reduces to that of a planar dielectric interface. For this case, the excess surface tension obtained by the variational theory reduces to the Onsager-Samaras [J. Chem. Phys. 2, 528 (1934)] limiting law at low electrolyte concentrations. As the radius of the dielectric sphere decreases, the excess surface tension also decreases. The implications of this work to protein-salt interactions and the salting out of proteins are discussed.

MeSH terms

  • Chemistry, Physical / methods*
  • Electrochemistry
  • Electrolytes*
  • Models, Statistical
  • Models, Theoretical
  • Poisson Distribution
  • Proteins / chemistry
  • Salts / chemistry
  • Static Electricity
  • Surface Properties
  • Thermodynamics

Substances

  • Electrolytes
  • Proteins
  • Salts