title: Relaxation dynamics at different time scales in electrostatic complexes: time-salt superposition.
abstract: In this Letter we show that in the rheology of electrostatically assembled soft materials, salt concentration plays a similar role as temperature for polymer melts, and as strain rate for soft solids. We rescale linear and nonlinear rheological data of a set of model electrostatic complexes at different salt concentrations to access a range of time scales that is otherwise inaccessible. This provides new insights into the relaxation mechanisms of electrostatic complexes, which we rationalize in terms of a microscopic mechanism underlying salt-enhanced activated processes.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Physical Chemistry and Colloid Science, Wageningen University, Dreijenplein 6, 6703 HB Wageningen, The Netherlands. evan.spruijt@wur.nl
authors.forename: Evan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Spruijt
authors.forename: Joris
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sprakel
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lemmers
authors.forename: Martien A Cohen
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Stuart
authors.forename: Jasper
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: van der Gucht
mesh_terms: D004573:Electrolytes / Q000737:chemistry; D012212:Rheology; D012492:Salts / Q000737:chemistry*; D055672:Static Electricity; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D004573:Electrolytes; D012492:Salts