Temperature dependence of the Soret coefficient of ionic colloids.

The temperature dependence of the Soret coefficient S(T)(T) in electrostatically charged magnetic colloids is investigated. Two different ferrofluids, with different particles' mean dimensions, are studied. In both cases we obtain a thermophilic behavior of the Soret effect. The temperature dependence of the Soret coefficient is described assuming that the nanoparticles migrate along the ionic thermoelectric field created by the thermal gradient. A model based on the contributions from the thermoelectrophoresis and variation of the double-layer energy, without fitting parameters, is used to describe the experimental results of the colloid with the bigger particles. To do so, independent measurements of the ζ potential, mass diffusion coefficient, and Seebeck coefficient are performed. The agreement of the theory and the experimental results is rather good. In the case of the ferrofluid with smaller particles, it is not possible to get experimentally reliable values of the ζ potential and the model described is used to evaluate this parameter and its temperature dependence.

Thermodiffusion in positively charged magnetic colloids: influence of the particle diameter.

The Soret coefficient (ST) of positively charged magnetic colloids was measured as a function of the nanoparticles' diameter. The Z-scan technique and the generalization of the thermal lens model proved to be a reliable technique to measure ST. We show that ST is negative and increases with the particle's diameter, being best described by a functional dependence of the type ST∝d0. Potentiometric and conductometric experiments show that the particle's surface charge decreases as the temperature increases, changing the electrostatic interaction between the nanoparticles. The temperature gradient imposed in the ferrofluid by the Gaussian laser beam leads to the formation of the particle's concentration gradient. The origin of this phenomenon is discussed in terms of the decrease of the particle's surface charge in the hottest region of the sample and the thermoelectric field due to the inhomogeneous distribution of hydrogenous ions present in the colloidal suspension.