RESUMEN
We consider within a modified Poisson-Boltzmann theory an electrolyte, with different mixtures of NaCl and NaI, near uncharged and charged solid hydrophobic surfaces. The parametrized potentials of mean force acting on Na+, Cl-, and I- near an uncharged self-assembled monolayer were deduced from molecular simulations with polarizable force fields. We study what happens when the surface presents negative charges. At moderately charged surfaces, we observe strong co-ion adsorption and clear specific ion effects at biological concentrations. At high surface charge densities, the co-ions are pushed away from the interface. We predict that Cl- ions can also be excluded from the surface by increasing the concentration of NaI. This ion competition effect (I- versus Cl-) may be relevant for ion-specific partitioning in multiphase systems where polarizable ions accumulate in phases with large surface areas.
RESUMEN
Mean-field theories that include nonelectrostatic interactions acting on ions near interfaces have been found to accommodate many experimentally observed ion specific effects. However, it is clear that this approach does not fully account for the liquid molecular structure and hydration effects. This is now improved by using parametrized ionic potentials deduced from recent nonprimitive model molecular dynamics (MD) simulations in a generalized Poisson-Boltzmann equation. We investigate how ion distributions and double layer forces depend on the choice of background salt. There is a strong ion specific double layer force set up due to unequal ion specific short-range potentials acting between ions and surfaces.