Iso-electric point of fluid
Abstract
Iso-electric point(IEP) is the PH, at which the ζ potential is measured to be zero. The occurrence of IEP has been understood due to the neutralization of surface charge density (SCD) at the solid-liquid interface. In this work, we use the potential trap model to study the sources of the surface charge density at verious PC and PH, by taking the water-silica system as an example. It is revealed that in the case of PH<8, the SCD is mainly originated from the dissociation of water molecules. And the bulk ions trapped at the interface can dominate the SCD when PH>9. Due to the mass action law, the dissociation of water molecules is suppressed at the PH close to IEP, leading to a zero surface charge density. In this way, zero ζ potential is obtained at the IEP. It has also been obtained that the increase of the salt concentration in the water can decrease the ζ potential, but increase the surface charge density.