Description: Phase diagram for a mixture of colloids and polymers with equal size

This title appears in the Scientific Report : 2008

Phase diagram for a mixture of colloids and polymers with equal size

We present the phase diagram of a colloid-polymer mixture in which the radius a of the colloidal spheres is approximately the same as the radius R of a polymer coil (q = R/a approximate to 1). A three-phase coexistence region is experimentally observed, previously only reported for colloid-polymer m...

Personal Name(s):	Tuinier, R.
	Smith, A. / Poon, W. C. K. / Egelhaaf, S. U. / Aarts, D.G.A.L. / Lekkerkerker, H. N. W. / Fleer, G. J.
Contributing Institute:	Weiche Materie; IFF-7
Published in:	epl, 82 (2008) S. 68002
Imprint:	Les Ulis EDP Sciences 2008
Physical Description:	68002
DOI:	10.1209/0295-5075/82/68002
Document Type:	Journal Article
Research Program:	Kondensierte Materie
Series Title:	EPL : a Letters Journal Exploring the Frontiers of Physics 82
Subject (ZB):	J
	Publikationsportal JuSER

Please use the identifier: http://dx.doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/82/68002 in citations.

We present the phase diagram of a colloid-polymer mixture in which the radius a of the colloidal spheres is approximately the same as the radius R of a polymer coil (q = R/a approximate to 1). A three-phase coexistence region is experimentally observed, previously only reported for colloid-polymer mixtures with smaller polymer chains (q less than or similar to 0.6). A recently developed generalized free-volume theory (GFVT) for mixtures of hard spheres and non-adsorbing excluded-volume polymer chains gives a quantitative description of the phase diagram. Monte Carlo simulations also agree well with experiment. Copyright (C) EPLA, 2008.