Past exam of the MPhil in micro- and nanotechnology enterprise course of the University of Cambridge / 2019 / Paper 1 / Section A(iii) / 5 / iii

In the high-surface-potential Schulze-Hardy rule, the critical coagulation concentration scales approximately as $z^{-6}$ with the counterion valence. HenceThe more highly charged counterion therefore requires about eleven times less concentration in this idealized estimate. This assumes the cations are the counterions of a negatively charged surface, the surface-potential regime is appropriate, and the only changing mechanism is electrostatic stabilization. Specific adsorption and hydrolysis of aluminium ions can invalidate this scaling; matching ionic strengths instead is not the same prediction.