Screening of heterogeneous surfaces: Charge renormalization of Janus particles

Abstract

Nonlinear ionic screening theory for heterogeneously charged spheres is developed in terms of a mode decomposition of the surface charge. A far-field analysis of the resulting electrostatic potential leads to a natural generalization of charge renormalization from purely monopolar to dipolar, quadrupolar, etc, including 'mode couplings'. Our novel scheme is generally applicable to large classes of surface heterogeneities, and is explicitly applied here to Janus spheres with differently charged upper and lower hemispheres, revealing strong renormalization effects for all multipoles.