Electrical repulsive energy between two cylindrical particles with finite length: Configuration dependence

Abstract

The electrical repulsive energy between two model cylinders was calculated by solving nonlinear Poission-Boltzmann (P-B) equation under Derjaguin approximation. Effects of the surface potential, Debye screening length, and configuration of cylinders on the repulsive interaction energy were examined. Due to the anisotropy of the shape of cylinder, the interaction repulsive energy showed dependence to the configuration of particles; cylinders aligned in end-to-end configuration showed largest repulsive energy and crossed particles had lowest interaction energy. The configuration effect is originated from the curvature effect of the interacting surfaces. The curved surfaces showed less repulsive energy than flat surfaces at the same interacting surface area. The configuration dependency of interaction energy agreed with the previous analytical solution obtained under the linearized P-B equation. The approach and results present in this report would be applicable in predicting colloidal behavior of cylindrical particles.