Image-charge forces in thin interlayers due to surface charges in electrolyte.

The surface forces arising in wetting films of nonpolar liquids or in thin air interlayers between an electrolyte and a nonpolar medium in the case of discrete charging of the dielectric-electrolyte interface are considered. The contributions of polarization effects to the distribution of the electrostatic potential in the three contacting media were calculated. Within the Debye-Hückel approximation, the analytical solutions were derived for the disjoining pressure in thin films, for the case of either dilute or relatively concentrated electrolyte solutions in the aforementioned systems. Analysis of the analytical and numerical results demonstrated that for dilute solutions the contribution of image forces to the disjoining pressure may significantly exceed the van der Waals forces for films from a few to tens of nanometers thick.