Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol.112, No.2, 954-959, 2000
Structure and interaction between ionic layers
The effect of asymmetric charge distribution on the structural properties of a lamellar system of ionic layers was determined with the use of the hypernetted chain theory. Due to electrostatic interaction and positional correlations between ions in all different layers, there appear layer pairs attractive forces which enhance when the ionic charge and concentration per layer is increased or when the distance of separation in reduced. The innermost layer pairs show the strongest attractive interaction due to an increased enhancement of ionic correlations. Asymmetry in the ionic concentration in the normal direction to the planes and moderate layers separation, h, produce a nonmonotonous pressure curve as a function of h for the more exterior layer pairs whereas at longer separations this pressure shows the universal asymptotic power law of correlated charge fluctuations of a simple two layer system, P similar to -1/h(3).