Electrokinetic phenomena of soft particles

A review is given on the recent developments of theories of electrokinetics of soft particles (i.e., hard particles covered with an ion-penetrable surface layer of polyelectrolytes) with particular emphasis on the electrophoretic relaxation effects for highly charged soft particles and the effects of inhomogeneous distribution of polymer segments in the surface layer. The electrostatic interaction between soft particles is also discussed. Not only the interaction before contact of the surface layers of the interacting particles but also the interaction after their contact is considered.