Alignment of Colloidal Rods in Crowded Environments.

ABSTRACT: Understanding the hydrodynamic alignment of colloidal rods in polymer solutions is pivotal for manufacturing structurally ordered materials. How polymer crowding influences the flow-induced alignment of suspended colloidal rods remains unclear when rods and polymers share similar length scales. We tackle this problem by analyzing the alignment of colloidal rods suspended in crowded polymer solutions and comparing that to the case where crowding is provided by additional colloidal rods in a pure solvent. We find that the polymer dynamics govern the onset of shear-induced alignment of colloidal rods suspended in polymer solutions, and the control parameter for the alignment of rods is the Weissenberg number, quantifying the elastic response of the polymer to an imposed flow. Moreover, we sho

SUBMITTER: Calabrese V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9281478 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature