Correlated electrolyte solutions and ion-induced attractions between nanoparticles

Simple expressions are presented for the equations of state of a correlated electrolyte solution, calculated straightforwardly within a full nonlinear Debye-Huckel approach in terms of the mean potential at contact, that predict quantitatively different phase behavior from the popular Debye-Huckel limiting law. The theory includes pair correlations accurately and may provide a basis for a quantitative theoretical study of organic or multivalent ionic solutions. As an example, cohesive effects are addressed of strong couplings between ions on the effective interactions between nanoparticles.