New electric-field-driven mesoscale phase transitions in polarized suspensions.
We report the discovery of a new class of an electric field-driven bulk phase transition due solely to dipolar interactions in a suspension under the action of a uniform ac field where the effects of other competing forces are suppressed. This transition appears after the well-known chain-column formation and causes the uniform suspension of columns to rearrange into a cellular pattern consisting of particle-free domains surrounded by particle-rich walls. Interestingly, the characteristic size of these domains scales linearly with the interelectrode spacing and remains insensitive to the size of the particles.
Kumar
Anil
A
The Levich Institute, The City College of New York, 140th Street & Convent Avenue, New York, New York 10031, USA.
Khusid
Boris
B
Qiu
Zhiyong
Z
Acrivos
Andreas
A
D003102:Colloids / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000528:radiation effects*; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields; D009038:Motion; D010316:Particle Size; D044367:Phase Transition / Q000528:radiation effects
D003102:Colloids