Probing electrostatic forces in colloidal suspensions through turbidity data

This paper deals with the use of turbidimetry to obtain information on forces between negatively charged polymeric particles at very low ionic strength. The specific turbidity olf deionized colloidal suspensions is measured and compared with the values obtained for suspensions of noninteracting particles. From these data, the integrated structure factors are experimentally obtained for several latex samples. These functions are fitted using the repulsive part of the DLVO potential, the Ornstein-Zernike equation, and the hyper-netted chain closure, which enables us to interpret the results in terms of an effective charge. The reliability of these values is discussed. In addition, a comparison between turbidimetry and light scattering data is presented. (C) 1999 Academic Press.