Recent advances in the use of statistical mechanics to establish molecular thermodynamic models for electrolyte solutions

Based on statistical mechanics, a review of recent theoretical studies of real electrolyte solutions is presented from three aspects, namely, molecular simulation, mean spherical approximation (MSA), and perturbation theory. Recent advances in studies of three kinds of electrostatic potentials of mean force, three kinds of internal energies (ion-ion, ion-dipole, and dipole-dipole interactions), and three kinds of electrolyte models (primitive, non-primitive, and solvent primitive models) are introduced. The advantages and disadvantages between primitive and non-primitive models, and between MSA and perturbation theory are discussed. Some new equations of state (EOSs) based on MSA and perturbation theory for real electrolyte solutions are introduced. The one-Yukawa EOS and the two-Yukawa EOS for charged colloid systems are presented.