Dynamic electrophoretic mobility of a soft particle

A theory of the dynamic electrophoretic mobility of a spherical soft particle (that is, a polyelectrolyte-coated spherical particle) in an oscillating electric field is presented. In the absence of the polyelectrolyte layer a spherical soft particle becomes a spherical hard particle, while in the absence of the particle core it tends to a spherical polyelectrolyte. The present theory thus covers two extreme cases, that is, dynamic electrophoresis of hard particles and that of spherical polyelectrolytes. Simple analytic mobility expressions are derived. It is shown how the dynamic electrophoretic mobility of a soft particle depends on the volume charge density distributed in the polyelectrolyte layer, on the frictional coefficient characterizing the frictional forces exerted by the polymer segments on the liquid flow in the polyelectrolyte layer, on the particle size, and on the frequency of the applied oscillating electric field. (C) 2001 Academic Press.