Minimal conditions for solidification and thermal processing of colloidal gels.

ABSTRACT: Colloidal gelation is used to form processable soft solids from a wide range of functional materials. Although multiple gelation routes are known to create gels of different types, the microscopic processes during gelation that differentiate them remain murky. A fundamental question is how the thermodynamic quench influences the microscopic driving forces of gelation, and determines the threshold or minimal conditions where gels form. We present a method that predicts these conditions on a colloidal phase diagram, and mechanistically connects the quench path of attractive and thermal forces to the emergence of gelled states. Our method employs systematically varied quenches of a colloidal fluid over a range of volume fractions to identify minimal conditions for gel solidification. The meth

SUBMITTER: Fenton SM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10288545 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature