Charged colloids and polyelectrolytes: from statics to electrokinetics

A review is given on recent studies of charged colloidal suspensions and polyelectrolytes both in static and non-equilibrium situations. As far as static equilibrium situations are concerned, we discuss three different problems: 1) Sedimentation density profiles in charged suspensions are shown to exhibit a stretched non-bariometric wing at large heights and binary suspensions under gravity can exhibit an analog of the brazil-nut effect known from granular matter, i.e. the heavier particles settle on top of the lighter ones. 2) Soft polyelectrolyte systems like polyelectrolyte stars and microgels show an ultra-soft effective interaction and this results into an unusual equilibrium phase diagram including reentrant melting transitions and stable open crystalline lattices. 3) The freezing transition in bilayers of confined charged suspensions is discussed and a reentrant behaviour is obtained. As far as nonequilibrium problems are concerned, we discuss an interface instability in oppositely driven colloidal mixtures and discuss possible approaches to simulate electrokinetic effects in charged suspensions.