title: Using optical tweezers for the characterization of polyelectrolyte solutions with very low viscoelasticity.
abstract: Recently, optical tweezing has been used to provide a method for microrheology addressed to measure the rheological properties of small volumes of samples. In this work, we corroborate this emerging field of microrheology by using these optical methods for the characterization of polyelectrolyte solutions with very low viscoelasticity. The influence of polyelectrolyte (i.e., polyacrylamide, PAM) concentration, specifically its aging, of the salt concentration is shown. The close agreement of the technique with classical bulk rheological measurements is demonstrated, illustrating the advantages of the technique.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Ingegneria Chimica, dei Materiali e della Produzione Industriale, Università di Napoli Federico II, P. le Tecchio 80, 80125 Napoli, Italy. angelo.pommella@gmail.com
authors.forename: Angelo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pommella
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Preziosi
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Caserta
authors.forename: Jonathan M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Cooper
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Guido
authors.forename: Manlio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tassieri
mesh_terms: D000180:Acrylic Resins / Q000737:chemistry*; D004548:Elasticity; D004573:Electrolytes / Q000737:chemistry*; D052898:Optical Tweezers; D012212:Rheology; D012996:Solutions; D014783:Viscosity; D000099166:Polyacrylamides
chemical_list: D000180:Acrylic Resins; D004573:Electrolytes; D012996:Solutions; D000099166:Polyacrylamides