title: Crystallization kinetics of thermosensitive colloids probed by transmission spectroscopy.
abstract: The kinetics of crystallization of poly-N-isopropylacrylamide (PNIPAM) particles has been investigated using the UV-visible transmission spectroscopy. Since the particle size decreases with the increase in temperature, microgel dispersions of different volume fractions have been obtained by varying the temperature of a single sample. It is found that the rates of the change in crystallinity, the average crystallite size, and the number density of crystallites at the most rapid stage over a certain time interval at various temperatures can be described by the power-law relations. At 19 degrees C, the PNIPAM system behaves as a hard sphere system under microgravity. The hard sphere theory based on Monte Carlo simulation has been used as a reference point to compare with conventional hard spheres, soft spheres, and PNIPAM spheres.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of North Texas, Denton 76203, USA.
authors.forename: Shijun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Zhibing
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Zhengdong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Jianzhong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wu