CHINESE JOURNAL OF PHYSICS VOL. 40, NO. 1 FEBRUARY 2002

Dielectric Response of a Dilute Oil-in-Water Emulsion Solution

C.-Y. D. Lu* and J. W. Yu

Department of Physics, National Central University,

Chung-Li, Taiwan 320, R.O.C.
(Received September 4, 2001)

We calculate the dielectric spectra of a dilute solution of charged oil/water emulsion droplets, which have mobile (polarizable) surface charges. The spectrum includes the interfacial polarization (Maxwell-Wagner theory), the double layer polarization (salt relaxation), and the surface charge polarization dispersions. It is found that the dielectric increment of the surface charge relaxation has a large value, and does not always increase with the surface charge density. Assuming a typical magnitude for the surface charge mobility and the ion bulk mobility, we find that the salt relaxation dispersion is likely to overlap with the surface charge relaxation, so that a clean spectrum assignment might be difficult.

PACS. 66.10.-x - Diffusion and ionic conduction in liquids.
PACS. 77.22.Gm - Dielectric loss and relaxation.
PACS. 77.84.Nh - Liquids, emulsions, and suspensions; liquid crystals.

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