Three-body forces between charged colloidal particles

Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2002 Jul;66(1 Pt 1):011402. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.66.011402. Epub 2002 Jul 15.

Abstract

Within nonlinear Poisson-Boltzmann theory we calculate the pair and triplet interactions between charged colloidal spheres, specifically in the nonlinear regime of low salt concentrations and high charges. We find repulsive pair interactions and attractive triplet interactions. Within a van der Waals-like mean-field theory we estimate in which parameter regime a gas-liquid coexistence is to be expected.