CALCULATION OF THE STATIC PERMITTIVITY OF SUSPENSIONS FROM THE STOREDENERGY

It is shown that the static permittivity of suspensions of charged par ticles in electrolyte solution can be deduced from the field-induced c hange of the Gibbs free energy stored outside the double layer. This e nergy is related to the changes of the electrolyte concentration aroun d the particle and is obtained solving a purely static problem, The me thod is first verified deducing well-known results corresponding to su spensions of spherical particles, It is then used to calculate the sta tic permittivity of suspensions of spheroidal particles, leading to a new result that cannot be analytically obtained using the classical ap proach. (C) 1997 Academic Press.