Nonequilibrium continuous phase transition in colloidal gelation with short-range attraction.

ABSTRACT: The dynamical arrest of attractive colloidal particles into out-of-equilibrium structures, known as gelation, is central to biophysics, materials science, nanotechnology, and food and cosmetic applications, but a complete understanding is lacking. In particular, for intermediate particle density and attraction, the structure formation process remains unclear. Here, we show that the gelation of short-range attractive particles is governed by a nonequilibrium percolation process. We combine experiments on critical Casimir colloidal suspensions, numerical simulations, and analytical modeling with a master kinetic equation to show that cluster sizes and correlation lengths diverge with exponents  ~1.6 and 0.8, respectively, consistent with percolation theory, while detailed balance in the part

SUBMITTER: Rouwhorst J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7367344 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature