Journal Article

PreJuSER-23493

http://join2-wiki.gsi.de/foswiki/pub/Main/Artwork/join2_logo100x88.png Kinetic arrest of crowded soft spheres in solvents of varying quality

Stiakakis, E. ; Vlassopulos, D. ; Loppinet, B. ; Roovers, J. ; Meier, G.FZJ*

2002
APS College Park, Md.

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Please use a persistent id in citations: http://hdl.handle.net/2128/1600  doi:10.1103/PhysRevE.66.051804

Abstract: Crowded solutions of multiarm star polymers, representing model colloidal spheres with ultrasoft repulsive interactions, undergo a reversible gelation transition upon heating in solvents of intermediate quality (between good and Theta). This unusual phenomenon is due to the kinetic arrest of the swollen interpenetrating spheres at high temperatures, forming clusters, in analogy to the colloidal glass transition. In this work we demonstrate that the choice of the solvent has a dramatic effect on the gelation transition, because of the different degree of star swelling (at the same temperature) associated with the solvent quality. We construct a generic kinetic phase diagram for the gelation of different stars in different solvents (gelation temperature against effective volume fraction, phi) and propose a critical "soft sphere close packing" volume fraction phi(c) distinguishing the temperature-induced (for phi<phi(c)) from the concentration-induced (for phi>phi(c)) glass-like gelation. We conclude that appropriate selection of the solvent allows for manipulation of the sol-gel transition in such ultrasoft colloids.

Keyword(s): J

Note: Record converted from VDB: 12.11.2012

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Contributing Institute(s):

1. Weiche Materie (IFF-WM)

Research Program(s):

1. Kondensierte Materie (M02)

Appears in the scientific report 2002
Notes: This version is available at the following Publisher URL: http://pre.aps.org

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