Depletion interaction between two colloidal particles in a nonadsorbing polymer solution

The depletion effect between two spherical colloidal particles in nonadsorbing polymer solutions is investigated using the self-consistent field theory. The density distributions of polymer segments, the depleted amount and depletion potential are calculated numerically in bispherical coordinates. The effects of chain length, bulk concentration, and solvency are also investigated. In the dilute regime the depleted amount and the depletion …