title: Thermal diffusion and soret feedback of gold-doped polyorganosiloxane nanospheres in toluene
abstract: We have investigated diffusion and thermal diffusion properties of light-absorbing colloidal polyorganosiloxane microgels containing tiny nanometer-sized gold clusters dispersed in toluene. Transient holographic gratings allow for very subtle perturbations in the linear regime where Soret feedback is negligible. Gold-doped colloids of different size and crosslink ratios show different Soret coefficients but identical thermal diffusion coefficients D(T). Undoped colloids tend to aggregate, but a consistent interpretation is obtained if an identical D(T) is assumed for the doped, the undoped, and the aggregated particles. Previously reported Soret feedback measurements on similar systems incidentally yielded comparable Soret coefficients. We show, however, that they suffer from strong convective perturbations.
authors.affiliation: Physikalisches Institut, Universitat Bayreuth, D-95440 Bayreuth, Germany.
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Spill
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Kohler
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lindenblatt
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Schaertl