Abstract. Thermodynamic properties of charge-stabilized colloidal suspensions depend sensitively on the effective charge of the macroions, which can be substantially lower than the bare charge in the case of strong counterion–macroion association. A theory of charge renormalization is proposed, combining an effective one-component model of charged colloids with a thermal criterion for distinguishing between free and associated counterions. The theory predicts, with minimal computational effort, osmotic pressures of deionized suspensions of highly charged colloids in close agreement with large-scale simulations of the primitive model.

Print publication: Issue 49 (10 December 2008)
Received 1 August 2008, in final form 15 September 2008
Published 12 November 2008