Adhesion of surfaces mediated by adsorbed particles: Monte Carlo simulations and a general relationship between adsorption isotherms and effective adhesion energies

Abstract

In colloidal and biological systems, interactions between surfaces are often mediated by adsorbed particles or molecules that interconnect the surfaces. In this article, we present a general relationship between the adsorption isotherms of the particles and the effective, particle-mediated adhesion energies of the surfaces. Our relationship is based on the analysis and modeling of detailed data from Monte Carlo simulations. As general properties that should hold for a wide class of adsorption scenarios, we find (i) that the particle-mediated adhesion energies of surfaces are maximal at intermediate bulk concentrations of the particles, and (ii) that the particle coverage in the bound state of the surfaces is twice the coverage in the unbound state at these bulk concentrations.