Integral Equation Method for the Determination of the Depletion Potential Between Two Colloidal Particles

Binary components Ornstein-Zernike integral equation with the concentration of large particle component being set to zero was employed to study the depletion potential behavior between two large neutral colloid particles （modeled as hard spheres）immersed in a sea of small neutral solvent particles. The prediction for the depletion potential behavior compared well with simulation data and experimental data available in the literature. It is found that the Hansen-Verlet one phase criterion，based on the effective one component system with the present depletion potential，for the freezing transition is completely not suitable for the real binary components system. It is disclosed that the unsuitability is due to the volume term of the solid phase and liquid phase which can not be treated selfconsistently in the Hansen-Verlet one phase criterion.