We develop a general method for calculating conduction-diffusion transport properties of strong electrolyte mixtures, including specific conductivities, steady-state electrophoretic mobilities, and self-diffusion coefficients. The ions are described as charged Brownian spheres, and the solvent-mediated hydrodynamic interactions (HIs) are also accounted for in the non-instantaneous ion atmosphere relaxation effect. A linear response expression relating long-time partial mobilities to associated dynamic structure factors is employed in our derivation of a general mode coupling theory (MCT) method for the conduction-diffusion properties. A simplified solution scheme for the MCT method is discussed. Analytic results are obtained for transport coefficients of pointlike ions which, for very low ion concentrations, reduce to the Deby-Falkenhagen-Onsager-Fuoss limiting law expressions. As an application, an unusual non-monotonic concentration dependence of the polyion electrophoretic mobility in a mixture of two binary electrolytes is discussed. In addition, leading-order extensions of the limiting law results are derived with HIs included. The present method complements a related MCT method by the authors for the electrolyte viscosity and shear relaxation function [C. Contreras-Aburto and G. Nägele, J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 24, 464108 (2012)], so that a unifying scheme for conduction-diffusion and viscoelastic properties is obtained. We present here the general framework of the method, illustrating its versatility for conditions where fully analytic results are obtainable. Numerical results for conduction-diffusion properties and the viscosity of concentrated electrolytes are presented in Paper II [C. Contreras Aburto and G. Nägele, J. Chem. Phys. 139, 134110 (2013)].

We present a versatile theoretical method for calculating the steady-state viscosity and shear relaxation function of strong electrolyte solutions. In this method, the ions are described on a primitive model level as charged Brownian spheres, and the essential ion-ion hydrodynamic interactions (HIs) are accounted for in the shear relaxation effect of the ionic atmosphere. The method combines a many-component mode-coupling theory (MCT) approach by Nägele et al (1998 J. Chem. Phys. 108 9893) with a simplified solution scheme, leading to an analytic expression for the shear relaxation contribution to the viscosity. This expression accounts for both the excluded volumes of the ions and their HIs. We show that the limiting law results for the viscosity of electrolyte mixtures by Falkenhagen and by Onsager and Fuoss are recovered at very low concentrations, and we discuss HIs corrections appearing at higher concentrations. Our numerical results for a 1:1 electrolyte reveal a strong enlargement of the viscosity caused by the HIs. The high-frequency viscosity gives the largest contribution to the total viscosity at higher concentrations.

We study the microstructure and the effective interactions of model suspensions consisting of Yukawa-like colloidal particles homogeneously distributed in equally spaced parallel planar monolayers. All the particles interact with each other, but particle transfer between monolayers is not allowed. The spacing between the layers defines the effective system dimensionality. When the layer spacing is comparable to the particle size, the system shows quasi-three-dimensional behavior, whereas for large distances the layers behave as effective two-dimensional systems. We find that effective attractions between like-charged particles can be triggered by adjusting the interlayer spacing, showing that the distance between adjacent layers is an excellent control parameter for the effective interparticle interactions. Our study is based on Brownian dynamics simulations and the integral equations theory of liquids. The effective potentials are accounted for by exploiting the invariance of the Ornstein-Zernike matrix equation under contractions of the description, and on assuming that the difference between bare and effective bridge functions can be neglected. We find that the hypernetted chain approximation does not account properly for the effective interactions in layered systems.

Dynamic processes in dispersions of charged spherical particles are of importance both in fundamental science, and in technical and bio-medical applications. There exists a large variety of chargedparticles systems, ranging from nanometer-sized electrolyte ions to micron-sized charge-stabilized colloids. We review recent advances in theoretical methods for the calculation of linear transport coefficients in concentrated particulate systems, with the focus on hydrodynamic interactions and electrokinetic effects. Considered transport properties are the dispersion viscosity, self-and collective diffusion coefficients, sedimentation coefficients, and electrophoretic mobilities and conductivities of ionic particle species in an external electric field. Advances by our group are also discussed, including a novel mode-coupling-theory method for conduction-diffusion and viscoelastic properties of strong electrolyte solutions. Furthermore, results are presented for dispersions of solvent-permeable particles, and particles with non-zero hydrodynamic surface slip. The concentration-dependent swelling of ionic microgels is discussed, as well as a far-reaching dynamic scaling behavior relating colloidal long-to short-time dynamics.arXiv:1309.3440v1 [cond-mat.soft]

On the basis of a versatile mode-coupling theory (MCT) method developed in Paper I [C. Contreras Aburto and G. Nägele, J. Chem. Phys. 139, 134109 (2013)], we investigate the concentration dependence of conduction-diffusion linear transport properties for a symmetric binary electrolyte solution. The ions are treated in this method as charged Brownian spheres, and the solvent-mediated ion-ion hydrodynamic interactions are accounted for also in the ion atmosphere relaxation effect. By means of a simplified solution scheme, convenient semi-analytic MCT expressions are derived for the electrophoretic mobilities, and the molar conductivity, of an electrolyte mixture with equal-sized ions. These expressions reduce to the classical Debye-Falkenhagen-Onsager-Fuoss results in the limit of very low ion concentration. The MCT expressions are numerically evaluated for a binary electrolyte, and compared to experimental data and results by another theoretical method. Our analysis encloses, in addition, the electrolyte viscosity. To analyze the dynamic influence of the hydration shell, the significance of mixed slip-stick hydrodynamic surface boundary conditions, and the effect of solvent permeability are explored. For the stick boundary condition employed in the hydrodynamic diffusivity tensors, our theoretical results for the molar conductivity and viscosity of an aqueous 1:1 electrolyte are in good overall agreement with reported experimental data for aqueous NaCl solutions, for concentrations extending even up to two molar.