title: Experimental observation of fractionated crystallization in polydisperse platelike colloids.
abstract: We have discovered that the long-term aging of the hexagonal columnar liquid-crystal phase of polydisperse gibbsite platelets leads to fractionated crystallization, that is, to the formation of coexisting columnar crystals with different periods. This process was revealed by microradian X-ray diffraction demonstrating the splitting of the Bragg intercolumnar reflections into sequences of sharper reflections. The fractionated crystallization was observed in a number of samples of sterically stabilized as well as charge-stabilized polydisperse gibbsite platelets.
authors.affiliation: Van't Hoff Laboratory for Physical and Colloid Chemistry, Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands. dbyelov@gmail.com
authors.forename: D V
authors.initials: DV
authors.lastname: Byelov
authors.forename: M C D
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Mourad
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Snigireva
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Snigirev
authors.forename: A V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Petukhov
authors.forename: H N W
authors.initials: HN
authors.lastname: Lekkerkerker
mesh_terms: D003102:Colloids / Q000737:chemistry*; D003460:Crystallization; D010316:Particle Size; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D003102:Colloids