Local structure of percolating gels at very low volume fractions

Samuel Griffiths; Francesco Turci; C. Patrick Royall

doi:10.1063/1.4973351

Local structure of percolating gels at very low volume fractions

Samuel Griffiths, Francesco Turci, C. Patrick Royall

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Abstract

The formation of colloidal gels is strongly dependent on the volume fraction of the system and the strength of the interactions between the colloids. Here we explore very dilute solutions by the means of numerical simulations, and show that, in the absence of hydrodynamic interactions and for sufficiently strong interactions, percolating colloidal gels can be realised at very low values of the volume fraction. Characterising the structure of the network of the arrested material we find that, when reducing the volume fraction, the gels are dominated by low-energy local structures, analogous to the isolated clusters of the interaction potential. Changing the strength of the interaction allows us to tune the compactness of the gel as characterised by the fractal dimension, with low interaction strength favouring more chain-like structures.

Original language	English
Article number	014905
Number of pages	8
Journal	Journal of Chemical Physics
Volume	146
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4973351
Publication status	Published - 6 Jan 2017

Keywords

gels
local structure

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10.1063/1.4973351

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title = "Local structure of percolating gels at very low volume fractions",

abstract = "The formation of colloidal gels is strongly dependent on the volume fraction of the system and the strength of the interactions between the colloids. Here we explore very dilute solutions by the means of numerical simulations, and show that, in the absence of hydrodynamic interactions and for sufficiently strong interactions, percolating colloidal gels can be realised at very low values of the volume fraction. Characterising the structure of the network of the arrested material we find that, when reducing the volume fraction, the gels are dominated by low-energy local structures, analogous to the isolated clusters of the interaction potential. Changing the strength of the interaction allows us to tune the compactness of the gel as characterised by the fractal dimension, with low interaction strength favouring more chain-like structures.",

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AU - Griffiths, Samuel

AU - Turci, Francesco

AU - Royall, C. Patrick

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N2 - The formation of colloidal gels is strongly dependent on the volume fraction of the system and the strength of the interactions between the colloids. Here we explore very dilute solutions by the means of numerical simulations, and show that, in the absence of hydrodynamic interactions and for sufficiently strong interactions, percolating colloidal gels can be realised at very low values of the volume fraction. Characterising the structure of the network of the arrested material we find that, when reducing the volume fraction, the gels are dominated by low-energy local structures, analogous to the isolated clusters of the interaction potential. Changing the strength of the interaction allows us to tune the compactness of the gel as characterised by the fractal dimension, with low interaction strength favouring more chain-like structures.

AB - The formation of colloidal gels is strongly dependent on the volume fraction of the system and the strength of the interactions between the colloids. Here we explore very dilute solutions by the means of numerical simulations, and show that, in the absence of hydrodynamic interactions and for sufficiently strong interactions, percolating colloidal gels can be realised at very low values of the volume fraction. Characterising the structure of the network of the arrested material we find that, when reducing the volume fraction, the gels are dominated by low-energy local structures, analogous to the isolated clusters of the interaction potential. Changing the strength of the interaction allows us to tune the compactness of the gel as characterised by the fractal dimension, with low interaction strength favouring more chain-like structures.

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DO - 10.1063/1.4973351

M3 - Article (Academic Journal)

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SN - 0021-9606

VL - 146

JO - Journal of Chemical Physics

JF - Journal of Chemical Physics

M1 - 014905

ER -

Local structure of percolating gels at very low volume fractions

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