Dual nature of magnetic nanoparticle dispersions enables control over short-range attraction and long-range repulsion interactions.

ABSTRACT: Competition between attractive and repulsive interactions drives the formation of complex phases in colloidal suspensions. A major experimental challenge lies in decoupling independent roles of attractive and repulsive forces in governing the equilibrium morphology and long-range spatial distribution of assemblies. Here, we uncover the 'dual nature' of magnetic nanoparticle dispersions, particulate and continuous, enabling control of the short-range attraction and long-range repulsion (SALR) between suspended microparticles. We show that non-magnetic microparticles suspended in an aqueous magnetic nanoparticle dispersion simultaneously experience a short-range depletion attraction due to the particulate nature of the fluid in competition with an in situ tunable long-range magnetic dipolar

SUBMITTER: Al Harraq A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9814898 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature