Electrophoresis of a concentrated spherical dispersion at arbitrary electrical potentials.

The electrophoretic behavior of a concentrated spherical dispersion is investigated theoretically. The present analysis extends those in the literature in that both the surface potential of a particle and the strength of the applied electric field are arbitrary and both the effects of double-layer polarization and the overlapping between neighboring double layers are taken into account. Results based on these conditions are highly desirable since they cover essentially all the possible experimental conditions in practice. We show that, for a fixed surface potential and strength of applied electric field, the higher the concentration of particle, the smaller the mobility. Counterions are found to accumulate at the downstream side of a particle. Double-layer polarization is inappreciable if either it is thick or the concentration of the particle is high.