  The potential of mean force (PMF) of a colloidal dispersion under various
circumstances of current interest, such as varying solvent quality, polymer
coating thickness, and addition of electrostatic interaction is obtained from
radial distribution functions available from the literature. They are based on
an implicit solvent, molecular dynamics simulation study of a model titania
dispersion that takes into account three major components to the interaction
between colloidal particles, namely van der Waals attraction, repulsion between
polymer coating layers, and a hard core particle repulsion. Additionally, a
screened form of the electrostatic interaction was included also. It is argued
that optimal conditions for dispersion stability can be derived from a
comparative analysis of the PMF under the different situations under study.
This thermodynamics based analysis is believed to be more accessible to
specialists working on the development of improved titania formulations than
that based on the more abstract, radial distribution functions.
