Smith, G.N. orcid.org/0000-0002-0074-5657, Finlayson, S.D., Rogers, S.E. et al. (2 more authors) (2017) Electrolyte-induced Instability of Colloidal Dispersions in Nonpolar Solvents. Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 8 (19). pp. 4668-4672.
Abstract
Dispersions of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) latexes were prepared in a low dielectric, nonpolar solvent (dodecane) both with and without the oil-soluble electrolyte, tetradodecylammonium-tetrakis(3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)borate. For dispersions with a high concentration of background electrolyte, the latexes become colloidally unstable and sediment in a short period of time (<1 h). This is completely reversible upon dilution. Instability of the dispersions is due to an apparent attraction between the colloids, directly observed using optical tweezers by bringing optically trapped particles into close proximity. Simple explanations generally used by colloid scientists to explain loss of stability (charge screening or stabilizer collapse) are insufficient to explain this observation. This unexpected interaction seems, therefore, to be a consequence of the materials that can be dispersed in low dielectric media and is expected to have ramifications for studying colloids in such solvents.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | This is an open access article published under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the author and source are cited. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > Department of Chemistry (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 17 Oct 2017 12:10 |
Last Modified: | 17 Oct 2017 12:14 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.7b01685 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | American Chemical Society |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1021/acs.jpclett.7b01685 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:122520 |