Interparticle interactions and polarization effects in colloids
The physics of simple colloidal systems is usually dominated by three independent length scales: the particle size, the average interparticle distance, and the range of the interparticle potential. The dispersed particles typically have characteristic dimensions in the range 5 to 100 nm, often with spherical or cylindrical symmetry. Dispersion densities vary over volume fractions ranging from 0.5 to 10/sup -4/, with the corresponding mean interparticle distances ranging from about 1 to 10 diameters (in spherical systems). The interaction potential may be very short ranged (hard sphere), very long ranged (Coulomb or dipolar), or anywhere in between (screened Coulomb), and the correlations exhibited in the dispersion may be gas-like, liquid-like or crystalline, depending on the range of the potential relative to the interparticle distance. This rich phase behavior is responsible for the remarkable importance of colloidal studies in many areas of condensed matter physics and biophysics, but it poses often intractable problems in developing the statistical mechanical descriptions necessary for an understanding of scattering data from colloids. This paper will review the considerable recent progress in this field, in the context of SANS experiments on colloids in which the potentials are dominated by either screened Coulomb or magnetic dipolar interactions; in the case of magnetic colloids (ferrofluids), the use of polarization analysis will also be discussed. 32 refs., 4 figs.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (USA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-84OR21400
- OSTI ID:
- 5387654
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-8710275-1; ON: DE88005852
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: International conference on applications and techniques of small angle scattering, Argonne, IL, USA, 26 Oct 1987; Other Information: Portions of this document are illegible in microfiche products
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
COLLOIDS
POLARIZATION
POTENTIALS
BROWNIAN MOVEMENT
CORRELATION FUNCTIONS
DISPERSIONS
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MOMENTUM TRANSFER
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
SMALL ANGLE SCATTERING
FUNCTIONS
SCATTERING
656002* - Condensed Matter Physics- General Techniques in Condensed Matter- (1987-)