Adsorption kinetics in the presence of external fields

In this article we present a detailed analysis of the kinetics of a class o f sequential adsorption models that take into account the effect of externa lly applied fields las an electric field, or a shear rate) on the adsorptio n. The excluded volume interactions related to the finite size of the adsor bing particles are modified by the external fields. As a result, new adsorp tion mechanisms appear with respect to the ones used to describe the kineti cs in a quiescent fluid. In particular, if the adsorbing particles are allo wed to roll over preadsorbed ones, adsorption becomes non local even in the simplest geometry. An exact analytic theory cannot be developed, but we in troduce a self-consistent theory that turns out to agree with the simulatio n results over all the range of the parameters.