Colloid Electrophoresis for Strong and Weak Ion Diffusivity

Abstract

We study the electrophoretic flow of suspensions of charged colloids with a mesoscopic method that allows us to model generic experimental conditions. We show that for highly charged colloids their electrophoretic mobility increases significantly and displays a mobility maximum on increasing the colloidal charge for all salt concentrations. The electrophoretic mobility of highly charged colloids is also enhanced significantly when ion advection is dominant, leading to a strong heterogeneity in the local electrophoretic response especially at low-salt concentration, when ion diffuse layers overlap.