Colloidal Precipitate Stability

Colloidal precipitates can form when a very insoluble solid is produced under high relative supersaturation. Their particles have a large surface-to-mass ratio, so surface adsorption becomes important. Silver chloride is a common example of this behavior.

In colloidal silver chloride, silver ions...

Colloidal precipitates have a large surface-to-mass ratio that encourages surface adsorption.

For example, colloidal silver chloride obtained by adding excess silver nitrate has a primary adsorption layer of silver ions and a secondary counter-ion layer of nitrate ions.

This electric double layer prevents particles from colliding a...