Berlin 2024 – scientific programme

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DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik

DY 46: Complex Fluids, Colloids, Micelles and Vesicles (joint session CPP/DY)

DY 46.1: Invited Talk

Thursday, March 21, 2024, 15:00–15:30, H 0110

Colloids and the depletion interaction: multi-phase coexistence of colloidal mixtures — •Remco Tuinier — Laboratory of Physical Chemistry, Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry & Institute for Complex Molecular Systems, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands

Colloids are the building blocks of many natural (e.g., clay, milk, blood) and technological (e.g., paint, storage media, cosmetics, shaving foam) systems. The big question underlying related innovations is how can colloidal systems be formulated and designed towards the desired properties? To do this, the forces between the colloidal particles need to be controlled. Adding depletants (non-adsorbing polymers or small colloids) is key to controlling the attractive interactions [1]. This talk provides a detailed exploration of the phase behaviour of complex colloidal mixtures. While hard spheres can undergo a fluid-solid phase transition, anisotropic hard particles such as rods, cuboids, discs or boards exhibit a richer phase behaviour. The addition of depletants to anisotropic colloids gives rise to orientation-dependent attractions resulting in non-trivial phase behaviour. It is demonstrated that such mixtures exhibit a strikingly rich multi-phase coexistence behaviour [2].

[1] H.N.W. Lekkerkerker, R. Tuinier, M. Vis, Colloids and the Depletion Interaction, 2nd edition, Springer, 2024.

[2] J. Opdam, V.F.D. Peters, H.H. Wensink, R. Tuinier, J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 14 (2023) 199-206.

Keywords: colloids; polymers; depletion interaction; phase behaviour