Cluster Formation Induced by Local Dielectric Saturation in Restricted Primitive Model Electrolytes

Experiments using the Surface Force Apparatus (SFA) have found anomalously long-ranged charge-charge underscreening in concentrated salt solutions. Meanwhile, theory and simulations have suggested ion clustering to be a possible origin of this behavior. The popular Restricted Primitive Model of electrolyte solutions, in which the solvent is represented by a uniform relative dielectric constant, ε