Abstract
Monodisperse spherical colloidal particles can be used to simulate molecular motions and, in particular, those which occur in the regions of phase transitions such as melting and freezing. In nonaqueous media the behaviour of sterically stabilized particles in near to that of 'hard-spheres'. The use of systems in which the majority of the particles are refractive index matched to the dispersion medium but where a few particles are added of the same size and surface chemistry but of different refractive index allows the development of tracer particle measurements using photon correlation spectroscopy. Thus it becomes possible to examine particle motion in dense systems. Here we use this novel technique to determine particle self-diffusion coefficients over a wide range of volume fractions and into the 'frozen' state.
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Ottewill, R., Williams, N. Study of particle motion in concentrated dispersions by tracer diffusion. Nature 325, 232–234 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1038/325232a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/325232a0
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