title: Crystal structure of highly concentrated, ionic microgel suspensions studied by neutron scattering.
abstract: We present a neutron-scattering investigation of the crystal structure formed by pH -sensitive poly(2-vinylpyridine) microgel particles with 5 wt % of cross-linker. We focus on highly swollen particles and explore concentrations ranging from below close packing to well above close packing, where the particles are forced to shrink and/or interpenetrate. The crystal structure is found to be random hexagonal close packed, similar to the structure typically found in hard-sphere systems.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Neutron Scattering, ETH Zurich & Paul Scherrer Institut, 5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland. urs.gasser@psi.ch
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Gasser
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sierra-Martin
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fernandez-Nieves