All surface charges are balanced by oppositely charged counter ions. Some of these counter ions are bound, usually transiently (see cation exchange), in the so-called Stern or Helmholtz layer, some of them may diffuse away from the surface and form a diffuse layer. Both the charged surface and the diffuse ions form the electric double layer, which in total is uncharged. The thickness of the diffuse layer is solely a function of the ionic strength of the solution. The distance 1/kappa, where the thickness has decreased to roughly 1/e is called the Debye (screening) length. The thickness decreases with increasing ionic strength because of the screening effect of ions.
Cf., Stern layer