2,811 research outputs found
The Effects of Inter-particle Attractions on Colloidal Sedimentation
We use a mesoscopic simulation technique to study the effect of short-ranged
inter-particle attraction on the steady-state sedimentation of colloidal
suspensions. Attractions increase the average sedimentation velocity
compared to the pure hard-sphere case, and for strong enough attractions, a
non-monotonic dependence on the packing fraction with a maximum velocity
at intermediate is observed. Attractions also strongly enhance
hydrodynamic velocity fluctuations, which show a pronounced maximum size as a
function of . These results are linked to a complex interplay between
hydrodynamics and the formation and break-up of transient many-particle
clusters.Comment: 4 pages 4 figure
Direct numerical simulations for non-Newtonian rheology of concentrated particle dispersions
The non-Newtonian behavior of a monodisperse concentrated dispersion of
spherical particles was investigated using a direct numerical simulation
method, that takes into account hydrodynamic interactions and thermal
fluctuations accurately. Simulations were performed under steady shear flow
with periodic boundary conditions in the three directions. The apparent shear
viscosity of the dispersions was calculated at volume fractions ranging from
0.31 to 0.56. Shear-thinning behavior was clearly observed at high volume
fractions. The low- and high-limiting viscosities were then estimated from the
apparent viscosity by fitting these data into a semi-empirical formula.
Furthermore, the short-time motions were examined for Brownian particles
fluctuating in concentrated dispersions, for which the fluid inertia plays an
important role. The mean square displacement was monitored in the vorticity
direction at several different Peclet numbers and volume fractions so that the
particle diffusion coefficient is determined from the long-time behavior of the
mean square displacement. Finally, the relationship between the non-Newtonian
viscosity of the dispersions and the structural relaxation of the dispersed
Brownian particles is examined
Correlated dynamics of inclusions in a supported membrane
The hydrodynamic theory of heterogeneous fluid membranes is extended to the
case of a membrane adjacent to a solid substrate. We derive the coupling
diffusion coefficients of pairs of membrane inclusions in the limit of large
separation compared to the inclusion size. Two-dimensional compressive stresses
in the membrane make the coupling coefficients decay asymptotically as
with interparticle distance . For the common case, where the distance to the
substrate is of sub-micron scale, we present expressions for the coupling
between distant disklike inclusions, which are valid for arbitrary inclusion
size. We calculate the effect of inclusions on the response of the membrane and
the associated corrections to the coupling diffusion coefficients to leading
order in the concentration of inclusions. While at short distances the response
is modified as if the membrane were a two-dimensional suspension, the
large-distance response is not renormalized by the inclusions.Comment: 15 page
Micro-evaporators for kinetic exploration of phase diagrams
We use pervaporation-based microfluidic devices to concentrate species in
aqueous solutions with spatial and temporal control of the process. Using
experiments and modelling, we quantitatively describe the advection-diffusion
behavior of the concentration field of various solutions (electrolytes,
colloids, etc) and demonstrate the potential of these devices as universal
tools for the kinetic exploration of the phases and textures that form upon
concentration
The Electric Double Layer Structure Around Charged Spherical Interfaces
We derive a formally simple approximate analytical solution to the
Poisson-Boltzmann equation for the spherical system via a geometric mapping.
Its regime of applicability in the parameter space of the spherical radius and
the surface potential is determined, and its superiority over the linearized
solution is demonstrated.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure
Investigation of -dependent dynamical heterogeneity in a colloidal gel by x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy
We use time-resolved X-Photon Correlation Spectroscopy to investigate the
slow dynamics of colloidal gels made of moderately attractive carbon black
particles. We show that the slow dynamics is temporally heterogeneous and
quantify its fluctuations by measuring the variance of the instantaneous
intensity correlation function. The amplitude of dynamical fluctuations has a
non-monotonic dependence on scattering vector , in stark contrast with
recent experiments on strongly attractive colloidal gels [Duri and Cipelletti,
\textit{Europhys. Lett.} \textbf{76}, 972 (2006)]. We propose a simple scaling
argument for the -dependence of fluctuations in glassy systems that
rationalizes these findings.Comment: Final version published in PR
Nonlinear effects in charge stabilized colloidal suspensions
Molecular Dynamics simulations are used to study the effective interactions
in charged stabilized colloidal suspensions. For not too high macroion charges
and sufficiently large screening, the concept of the potential of mean force is
known to work well. In the present work, we focus on highly charged macroions
in the limit of low salt concentrations. Within this regime, nonlinear
corrections to the celebrated DLVO theory [B. Derjaguin and L. Landau, Acta
Physicochem. USSR {\bf 14}, 633 (1941); E.J.W. Verwey and J.T.G. Overbeck, {\em
Theory of the Stability of Lyotropic Colloids} (Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1948)]
have to be considered. For non--bulklike systems, such as isolated pairs or
triples of macroions, we show, that nonlinear effects can become relevant,
which cannot be described by the charge renormalization concept [S. Alexander
et al., J. Chem. Phys. {\bf 80}, 5776 (1984)]. For an isolated pair of
macroions, we find an almost perfect qualitative agreement between our
simulation data and the primitive model. However, on a quantitative level,
neither Debye-H\"uckel theory nor the charge renormalization concept can be
confirmed in detail. This seems mainly to be related to the fact, that for
small ion concentrations, microionic layers can strongly overlap, whereas,
simultaneously, excluded volume effects are less important. In the case of
isolated triples, where we compare between coaxial and triangular geometries,
we find attractive corrections to pairwise additivity in the limit of small
macroion separations and salt concentrations. These triplet interactions arise
if all three microionic layers around the macroions exhibit a significant
overlap. In contrast to the case of two isolated colloids, the charge
distribution around a macroion in a triple is found to be anisotropic.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figure
Viscoelasticity of two-layer-vesicles in solution
The dynamic shape relaxation of the two-layer-vesicle is calculated. In
additional to the undulation relaxation where the two bilayers move in the same
direction, the squeezing mode appears when the gap between the two bilayers is
small. At large gap, the inner vesicle relaxes much faster, whereas the slow
mode is mainly due to the outer layer relaxation. We have calculated the
viscoelasticity of the dilute two-layer-vesicle suspension. It is found that
for small gap, the applied shear drives the undulation mode strongly while the
slow squeezing mode is not much excited. In this limit the complex viscosity is
dominated by the fast mode contribution. On the other hand, the slow mode is
strongly driven by shear for larger gap. We have determined the crossover gap
which depends on the interaction between the two bilayers. For a series of
samples where the gap is changed systematically, it is possible to observe the
two amplitude switchings
Effective Interactions and Volume Energies in Charge-Stabilized Colloidal Suspensions
Charge-stabilized colloidal suspensions can be conveniently described by
formally reducing the macroion-microion mixture to an equivalent one-component
system of pseudo-particles. Within this scheme, the utility of a linear
response approximation for deriving effective interparticle interactions has
been demonstrated [M. J. Grimson and M. Silbert, Mol. Phys. 74, 397 (1991)].
Here the response approach is extended to suspensions of finite-sized macroions
and used to derive explicit expressions for (1) an effective electrostatic pair
interaction between pseudo-macroions and (2) an associated volume energy that
contributes to the total free energy. The derivation recovers precisely the
form of the DLVO screened-Coulomb effective pair interaction for spherical
macroions and makes manifest the important influence of the volume energy on
thermodynamic properties of deionized suspensions. Excluded volume corrections
are implicitly incorporated through a natural modification of the inverse
screening length. By including nonlinear response of counterions to macroions,
the theory may be generalized to systematically investigate effective many-body
interactions.Comment: 13 pages (J. Phys.: Condensed Matter, in press
- …