Surface Charge - Interfacial Potential

Interfacial Potential

An interface is defined as the common boundary formed between two different phases, such as between a solid and gas. Electric potential, or charge, is the result of an object's capacity to be moved in an electric field. An interfacial potential is thus defined as a charge located at the common boundary between two phases (for example, an amino acid such as glutamate on the surface of a protein can have its side chain carboxylic acid deprotonated in environments with pH greater than 4.1 to produce a charged amino acid at the surface, which would create an interfacial potential). Interfacial potential is responsible for the formation of the electric double layer, which has a broad range of applications in what is termed electrokinetic phenomena. The development of the theory of the electric double layer is described below.