Glasslike arrest in spinodal decomposition as a route to colloidal gelation.
Colloid-polymer mixtures can undergo spinodal decomposition into colloid-rich and colloid-poor regions. Gelation results when interconnected colloid-rich regions solidify. We show that this occurs when these regions undergo a glass transition, leading to dynamic arrest of the spinodal decomposition. The characteristic length scale of the gel decreases with increasing quench depth, and the nonergodicity parameter exhibits a pronounced dependence on scattering vector. Mode coupling theory gives a good description of the dynamics, provided we use the full static structure as input.
Manley
S
S
Department of Physics & DEAS, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
Wyss
H M
HM
Miyazaki
K
K
Conrad
J C
JC
Trappe
V
V
Kaufman
L J
LJ
Reichman
D R
DR
Weitz
D A
DA
D003102:Colloids / Q000737:chemistry*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003460:Crystallization / Q000379:methods*; D005782:Gels / Q000737:chemistry*; D005898:Glass / Q000737:chemistry*; D008956:Models, Chemical; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D044367:Phase Transition; D044366:Transition Temperature
D003102:Colloids; D005782:Gels