Electric-field induced capillary interaction of charged particles at a polar interface -: art. no. 058302

We study the electric-field induced capillary interaction of charged particles at a polar interface. The algebraic tail of the electrostatic pressure of each charge results in a deformation of the interface usimilar tor(-4), where r is the lateral distance. The capillary interaction of nearby particles is repulsive and varies as rho(-6) with their distance rho. As a consequence, electric-field induced capillary forces cannot be at the origin of the secondary minimum observed recently for charged poly(methyl methacrylate) particles at an oil-water interface.