Streaming current and streaming potential for particle covered surfaces: virial expansion and simulations.

Streaming potential changes induced by deposition of particles at solid/liquid interfaces are considered theoretically. The solution is obtained in terms of a virial expansion of the streaming potential up to the third order of the surface coverage of particles, assumed to be distributed according to the hard sphere equilibrium distribution function. Theoretical methods, including the idea of cluster expansion, are adopted from statistical physics. In the cluster expansion, two-body and three-body hydrodynamic interactions are evaluated with a high precision using the multipole method. The multipole expansion algorithm is also used to perform numerical simulations of the streaming potential, valid for the entire surface coverage range met in practice. Results of our calculations are in good agreement with the experimental data for spherical latex particles adsorbed on a mica surface.