Effect of Connectivity on the Structure and the Liquid–Solid
Transition of Dense Suspensions of Soft Colloids
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Abstract
Aqueous solutions of multiarm flower-like
poly(ethylene oxide)
(PEO) were formed and connected to various degrees by self-assembly.
The structure was rendered permanent by <i>in situ</i> UV-irradiation.
Dense suspensions of these single and connected soft colloids were
studied by static and dynamic light scattering and viscosity measurements.
The concentration dependence of the osmotic compressibility, the dynamic
correlation length, and the viscosity of single flowers was shown
to be close to that of equivalent PEO star-like polymers demonstrating
that the effect of forming loops on the interaction is small. It was
found that the osmotic compressibility and the dynamic correlation
length of dense suspensions are not influenced by the bridging. However,
when flower polymers are connected into clusters, motion in dense
suspensions needs to be collective over larger length scales. This
causes a much stronger increase of the viscosity for dense suspensions
of interpenetrated clusters compared to single-flower polymers