Dynamic and dielectric response of charged colloids in electrolyte solutions to external electric fields

Computer simulations are used to investigate the response of a charged colloid and its surrounding microion cloud to an external electric field. Both static fields and alternating fields are considered. A mesoscopic simulation method is implemented to account in full for hydrodynamic and electrostatic interactions. The response of the system can be characterized by two quantities: the mobility and the polarizability. Due to the interplay of the electrostatic attraction and hydrodynamic drag, the response of the microions close to the colloid surface is different from that of the microions far away from the colloid. Both the mobility and polarizability exhibit a dependency on the frequency of the external fields, which can be attributed to the concentration polarization, the mobility of the microions, and the inertia of microions. The effects of the colloidal charge, the salt concentration, and the frequency of the external fields are investigated systematically. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.