Scaling of the viscoelasticity of weakly attractive particles

The rheological data of weakly attractive colloidal particles are shown to exhibit a surprising scaling behavior as the particle volume fraction, straight phi, or the strength of the attractive interparticle interaction, U, are varied. There is a critical onset of a solid network as either straight phi or U increase above critical values. For all solidlike samples, both the frequency-dependent linear viscoelastic moduli, and the strain-rate dependent stress can be scaled onto universal master curves. A model of a solid network interspersed in a background fluid qualitatively accounts for this behavior.

Velocity fluctuations in fluidized suspensions probed by ultrasonic correlation spectroscopy

Velocity fluctuations in a fluidized suspension of particles are investigated using two new ultrasonic correlation spectroscopies: diffusing acoustic wave spectroscopy and dynamic sound scattering. These techniques probe both the local strain rate and rms velocity of the particles, providing important information about the spatial extent of velocity correlations. Our results demonstrate the power of these techniques to probe particle dynamics of fluidized suspensions, and suggest that the velocity correlations are essentially independent of Reynolds numbers for Re(p)<1.

Entropically driven colloidal crystallization on patterned surfaces

We investigate the self-assembly of colloidal spheres on periodically patterned templates. The surface potentials and the surface phases are induced entropically by the presence of dissolved, nonadsorbing polymers. A rich variety of two-dimensional fluidlike and solidlike phases was observed to form on template potentials with both one- and two-dimensional symmetry. The same methodology was then used to nucleate an oriented single fcc crystal more than 30 layers thick. The general approach provides a new route for directed self-assembly of novel mesoscopic structures.

Three-dimensional direct imaging of structural relaxation near the colloidal glass transition

Confocal microscopy was used to directly observe three-dimensional dynamics of particles in colloidal supercooled fluids and colloidal glasses. The fastest particles moved cooperatively; connected clusters of these mobile particles could be identified; and the cluster size distribution, structure, and dynamics were investigated. The characteristic cluster size grew markedly in the supercooled fluid as the glass transition was approached, in agreement with computer simulations; at the glass transition, however, there was a sudden drop in their size. The clusters of fast-moving particles were largest near the alpha-relaxation time scale for supercooled colloidal fluids, but were also present, albeit with a markedly different nature, at shorter beta-relaxation time scales, in both supercooled fluid and glass colloidal phases.

Surfactant-mediated two-dimensional crystallization of colloidal crystals

Colloidal particles can form unexpected two-dimensional ordered colloidal crystals when they interact with surfactants of the opposite charge. Coulomb interactions lead to self-limited adsorption of the particles on the surface of vesicles formed by the surfactants. The adsorbed particles form ordered but fluid rafts on the vesicle surfaces, and these ultimately form robust two-dimensional crystals. This use of attractive Coulomb interaction between colloidal particles and surfactant structures offers a potential new route to self-assembly of ordered colloidal structures.

Electrostatic repulsion of positively charged vesicles and negatively charged objects

A positively charged, mixed bilayer vesicle in the presence of negatively charged surfaces (for example, colloidal particles) can spontaneously partition into an adhesion zone of definite area and another zone that repels additional negative objects. Although the membrane itself has nonnegative charge in the repulsive zone, negative counterions on the interior of the vesicle spontaneously aggregate there and present a net negative charge to the exterior. Beyond the fundamental result that oppositely charged objects can repel, this mechanism helps to explain recent experiments on surfactant vesicles.

Particle-stabilized defect gel in cholesteric liquid crystals

Dispersions of colloidal particles in cholesteric liquid crystals form an unusual solid by stabilizing a network of linear defects under tension in the ideal layered structure of the cholesteric. The large length scales of the cholesteric liquid crystals allowed direct observation of the network structure, and its properties were correlated with rheological measurements of elasticity. This system serves as a model for a class of solids formed when particles are mixed with layered materials such as thermotropic and lyotropic smectic liquid crystals and block copolymers.

Novel Colloidal Interactions in Anisotropic Fluids

Small water droplets dispersed in a nematic liquid crystal exhibit a novel class of colloidal interactions, arising from the orientational elastic energy of the anisotropic host fluid. These interactions include a short-range repulsion and a long-range dipolar attraction, and they lead to the formation of anisotropic chainlike structures by the colloidal particles. The repulsive interaction can lead to novel mechanisms for colloid stabilization.