A new look at effective interactions between microgel particles.

ABSTRACT: Thermoresponsive microgels find widespread use as colloidal model systems, because their temperature-dependent size allows facile tuning of their volume fraction in situ. However, an interaction potential unifying their behavior across the entire phase diagram is sorely lacking. Here we investigate microgel suspensions in the fluid regime at different volume fractions and temperatures, and in the presence of another population of small microgels, combining confocal microscopy experiments and numerical simulations. We find that effective interactions between microgels are clearly temperature dependent. In addition, microgel mixtures possess an enhanced stability compared to hard colloid mixtures - a property not predicted by a simple Hertzian model. Based on numerical calculations we propos

SUBMITTER: Bergman MJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6262015 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature