Editing DLVO theory (section)

==History==
In 1923, [[Peter Debye]] and [[Erich Hückel]] reported the first successful theory for the distribution of charges in ionic solutions.<ref>
{{Citation
 | last1=Debye
 | first1=P.
 | last2=Hückel
 | first2=E.
 | year=1923
 | title=The theory of electrolytes. I. Lowering of freezing point and related phenomena
 | journal=Physikalische Zeitschrift
 | volume=24
 | pages=185–206
}}
</ref>
The framework of linearized [[Debye–Hückel theory]] subsequently was applied to colloidal dispersions by S. Levine and G. P. Dube<ref>
{{Citation
 | first=S. 
 | last=Levine
 | title=Problems of stability in hydrophobic colloidal solutions I. On the interaction of two colloidal metallic particles. General discussion and applications
 | journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society of London A 
 | volume=170
 | issue=145
 | pages=165
 | year=1939
|bibcode = 1939RSPSA.170..165L |doi = 10.1098/rspa.1939.0024 | s2cid=94591277
 | doi-access=}}
</ref><ref>
{{Citation
 | first1=S. 
 | last1=Levine
 | first2=G. P. 
 | last2=Dube 
 | title=Interaction between two hydrophobic colloidal particles, using the approximate Debye-Huckel theory. I. General properties
 | journal=Transactions of the Faraday Society
 | volume=35
 | pages=1125–1141
 | year=1940
 | doi=10.1039/tf9393501125
}}
</ref>
who found that charged colloidal particles should experience a strong medium-range repulsion and a weaker long-range attraction.
This theory did not explain the observed instability of colloidal dispersions against irreversible aggregation in solutions of high ionic strength.
In 1941, [[Boris Derjaguin]] and [[Lev Landau]] introduced a theory for the stability of colloidal dispersions that invoked a fundamental instability driven by strong but short-ranged van der Waals attractions countered by the stabilizing influence of electrostatic repulsions.<ref>
{{Citation
 | first1=B. 
 | last1=Derjaguin
 | first2=L. 
 | last2=Landau 
 | title=Theory of the stability of strongly charged lyophobic sols and of the adhesion of strongly charged particles in solutions of electrolytes 
 | journal=Acta Physico Chimica URSS
 | volume=14
 | pages=633
 | year=1941
}}
</ref>
In 1948, [[Evert Verwey]] and [[Theodoor Overbeek|Theodor Overbeek]] independently arrived at the same result.<ref name="Verwey">
{{Citation
 | first1=E. J. W. 
 | last1=Verwey
 | first2=J. Th. G. 
 | last2=Overbeek 
 | title=Theory of the stability of lyophobic colloids
 | journal=The Journal of Physical and Colloid Chemistry
 | publisher=Elsevier
 | location=Amsterdam
 | year=1948 | volume=51
 | issue=3
 | pages=631–6
 | doi=10.1021/j150453a001
 | pmid=20238663
 | hdl=1874/16118
 | hdl-access=free
 }}
</ref>
This so-called DLVO theory resolved the failure of the Levine–Dube theory to account for the dependence of colloidal dispersions' stability on the ionic strength of the electrolyte.<ref>
{{Citation
 | first1=W. B.
 | last1=Russel
 | first2=D. A.
 | last2=Saville
 | first3=W. R.
 | last3=Schowalter
 | title=Colloidal Dispersions
 | publisher=Cambridge University Press
 | location=New York
 | year=1989
}}
</ref>