Langmuir, Vol.25, No.4, 1961-1969, 2009
Dynamic Dielectric Response of Concentrated Colloidal Dispersions: Comparison between Theory and Experiment
The cell-model electrokinetic theory of Ahualli et al. Langmuir 2006, 22, 704 1; Ahualli et al. J. Colloid Interface Sci. 2007, 309, 342; and Bradshaw-Hajek et al. Langmuir 2008, 24, 4512 is applied to a dense suspension of charged spherical particles, to exhibit the system's dielectric response to an applied electric field as a function of solids volume fraction. The model's predictions of effective permittivity and complex conductivity are favorably compared with published theoretical calculations and experimental measurements on dense colloidal systems. Physical factors governing the volume fraction dependence of the dielectric response are discussed.