Structure and dynamics of biphasic colloidal mixtures.
We investigate the structure and dynamics of biphasic colloidal mixtures composed of coexisting attractive and repulsive microspheres by confocal microscopy. Attractive gels formed in the presence of repulsive microspheres are more spatially homogeneous and, on average, are both more locally tenuous and have fewer large voids than their unary counterparts. The repulsive microspheres within these mixtures display heterogeneous dynamics, with some species exhibiting freely diffusive Brownian motion while others are trapped within the gel network during aggregation.
Mohraz
Ali
A
Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA.
Weeks
Eric R
ER
Lewis
Jennifer A
JA