Coupling effects of depletion interactions in a three-sphere colloidal system

In a three-sphere system, the middle sphere is acted upon by two opposite depletion forces from the other two spheres. It is found that, in this system, the two depletion forces are coupled with each other and result in a strengthened depletion force. So the difference of the depletion forces of the three-sphere system and its corresponding two two-sphere systems is introduced to describe the coupling effect of the depletion interactions. The numerical results obtained by Monte-Carlo simulations show that this coupling effect is affected by both the concentration of small spheres and the geometrical confinement. Meanwhile, it is also found that the mechanisms of the coupling effect and the effect on the depletion force from the geometry factor are the same.     

约束条件下胶球间排空力的研究

用MonteCarlo方法对处于两平行硬板约束下三个浓度的大小胶球系统进行了模拟,通过对大胶球表面小胶球密度的统计,由密度积分公式获得了大胶球所受的排空力.研究结果显示,因为平行硬板的存在或当改变两平行硬板的距离时,同浓度下,排空力在硬板距离小的时候最明显;三个浓度中,浓度高的,排空力受硬板距离影响最大;有硬板约束比无该约束的时候,排空力效果更显著.