  We determine the structure of charge-stabilized colloidal suspensions at low
ionic strength over an extended range of particle volume fractions using a
combination of light and small angle neutron scattering experiments. The
variation of the structure factor with concentration is analyzed within a
one-component model of a colloidal suspension. We show that the observed
structural behavior corresponds to a non-monotonic density dependence of the
colloid effective charge and the mean interparticle interaction energy. Our
findings are corroborated by similar observations from primitive model computer
simulations of salt-free colloidal suspensions.
