ABSTRACTA solution of 30 % by mass, 7 nm diameter, colloidal silica spheres has been studied during gelation using small angle neutron scattering (SANS). A peak in the static structure factor appears early at a wavevector q ≈ 0.1 nm−1, and then grows in height and shifts to lower wavevectors as gelation proceeds. This is consistent with a cluster growth model in which this low-q peak in the structure factor indicates the presence of correlations between growing clusters. The peak continues to grow after the solution has visibly gelled indicating that the gel coarsens even after a stiff solid-like network has formed. The clear presence of cluster correlations at length scales only one order of magnitude larger than the particle size means that the usual fractal slope analyses are invalid in this system. We interpret the results by comparing the measured time evolution of the structure factor with computer simulations of Lennard-Jones particles quenched far below the critical line.
Measurement of the Static Structure Factor in a Paraxial Fluid of Light Using Bragg-like Spectroscopy
