Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Phase diagram of colloidal crystals of poly(methyl methacrylate) spheres in the exhaustively deionized dispersion

  • Original Contribution
  • Published:
Colloid and Polymer Science Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Phase diagram of colloidal crystals of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) spheres (100 to 300 nm in diameter) was measured precisely for the exhaustively deionized aqueous dispersion. Strong iridescent colors changed from bluish to reddish and metallic as sphere size increased at high sphere concentrations around 0.1 in volume fraction. Large single crystals, on the other hand, were recognized with the naked eyes at low sphere concentrations around 0.0005 to 0.001 especially for PMMA spheres smaller than 200 nm. The critical concentrations of melting (or crystallization), ϕc of all the PMMA spheres examined were quite low between 0.00025 and 0.00060 in volume fraction. The ϕc values were insensitive to kind (polystyrene, silica, and fluorine-containing spheres) and also to size (90~300 nm) of colloidal spheres. The ϕc value of the deionized dispersion with the coexistence of the ion-exchange resins was lowest, and that without resins was tenfold large. Addition of sodium chloride increased the ϕc values sharply. Extension of the electrical double layers forming around the colloidal spheres is most important to determine the ϕc values.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Vanderhoff W, van de Hul HJ, Tausk RJM, Overbeek JTG (1970) In: Goldfinger G (ed) Clean surfaces: their preparation and characterization for interfacial studies. Marcel Dekker, New York, pp 15–44

    Google Scholar 

  2. Hiltner PA, Papir YS, Krieger IM (1971) Diffraction of light by nonaqueous ordered suspensions. J Phys Chem 75:1881–1886

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Kose A, Ozaki M, Takano K, Kobayashi Y, Hachisu S (1973) Direct observation of ordered latex suspension by metallurgical microscope. J Colloid Interf Sci 44:330–338

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Williams R, Crandall RS, Wojtowicz PJ (1976) Melting of crystalline suspensions of polystyrene spheres. Phys Rev Lett 37:348–351

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Mitaku S, Ohtsuki T, Kishimoto A, Okano K (1980) Dynamic properties of concentrated suspensions of charged polystyrene spheres. Biophys Chem 11:411–416

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Lindsay HM, Chaikin PM (1982) Elastic properties of colloidal crystals and gases. J Chem Phys 76:3774–3781

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Pieranski P (1983) Colloidal crystals. Contemp Phys 24:25–73

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Ottewill RH (1985) Dispersed systems-recent developments. Ber Bunsenges Phys Chem 89:517–525

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Aastuen DJW, Clark NA, Cotter LK, Ackerson BJ (1986) Nucleation and growth of colloidal crystals. Phys Rev Lett 57:1733–1736

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Pusey PN, van Megen W (1986) Phase behavior of concentrated suspensions of nearly hard colloidal spheres. Nature (London) 320:340–342

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Okubo T (1988) Extraordinary behavior in the structural properties of colloidal macroions in deionized suspension and the importance of the Debye screening length. Acc Chem Res 21:281–286

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Russel WB, Saville DA, Schowalter WR (1989) Colloidal dispersions, vol 10. Cambridge Univ Press, Cambridge, chapt, pp 329–365

    Book  Google Scholar 

  13. Sood AK (1991) Structural ordering in colloidal suspensions. Solid State Phys 45:1–73

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Schatzel K, Ackerson BJ (1993) Density fluctuations during crystallization of colloids. Phys Rev E 48:3766–3777

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Leunissen ME, Christova CG, Hynninen AP, Royall CP, Campbell AI, Imhof A, Dijkstra M, van Roij R, van Blaaderen A (2005) Ionic colloidal crystals of oppositely charged particles. Nature 437:235–240

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Bohn JJ, Tikhonov A, Asher SA (2010) Colloidal crystal growth monitered by Bragg diffraction interference fringes. J Colloid Interf Sci 350:381–386

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Beyer R, Franke M, Schope HJ, Palberg T (2015) From nuclei to microstructure in colloidal crystallization: investigating intermediate length scales by small angle laser light scattering. J Chem Phys 143:064903

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Okubo T (1992) Giant single crystals of colloidal spheres in deionized and diluted suspension. Naturwiss 79:317–320

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Okubo T (1993) Large single crystals of colloidal silica spheres appearing in deionized and diluted suspension. Colloid Polymer Sci 271:190–196

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Okubo T (1994) Giant colloidal single crystals of polystyrene and silica spheres in deionized suspension. Langmuir 10:1695–1702

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Okubo T, Yoshimi H, Shimizu T, Ottewill RH (2000) Giant colloidal crystals of fluorine-containing polymer spheres in the exhaustively deionized aqueous suspensions and in the presence of sodium chloride. Colloid Polymer Sci 278:469–474

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Okubo T (1988) Determination of the effective charge numbers of colloidal spheres by conductance measurements. J Colloid Interf Sci 125:380–385

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Okubo T (2015) Colloidal organization. Elsevier, Amsterdam

    Google Scholar 

  24. Alexander S, Chaikin PM, Grant P, Morales GJ, Pincus P, Hone D (1984) Charge renormalisation, osmotic pressure, and bulk modulus of colloidal crystals—theory. J Chem Phys 80:5776–5781

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Palberg T, Kottal J, Bitzer F, Simon R, Wurthard M, Leiderer P (1995) Shear modulus titration in crystalline colloidal suspensions. J Colloid Interf Sci 169:85–89

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Garbow N, Evers M, Palberg T, Okubo T (2004) On the electrophoretic mobility of isolated colloidal spheres. J Phys Condens Matter 16:3835–3842

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Gilanyi T (1988) On the counterion dissociation of colloidal electrolytes. J Colloid Interf Sci 125:641–648

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Okubo T (1993) Elasticity of the crystal-like, amorphous solid-like, and liquid-like structures in deionized suspensions of colloidal silica spheres. Colloid Polym Sci 271:873–883

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Okubo T (1992) Suspension structure of deionized colloidal silica spheres as studied by the reflection and transmission spectroscopy. Ber Bunsenges Phys Chem 96:61–68

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Ueno K, Sano Y, Kondoh M, Watanabe M (2009) A soft glassy colloidal array in ionic liquid, which exhibits homogeneous, non-brilliant and angle-independent structural colours. Chem Commun 2009:3603–3605

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Ueno K, Sano Y, Kondoh M, Watanabe M (2009) Soft glassy colloidal arrays in an ionic liquid: colloidal glass transition, ionic transprt, and structural color in relation to microstructure. J Phys Chem B 114:13095–13103

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. Ueda K, Inaba A, Ueki T, Kondoh M, Watanabe M (2010) Thermo-sensitive, soft glassy and structural colored colloidal array in ionic liquid: colloidal glass to gel transition. Langmuir 26:18031–18038

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Ueno K, Watanabe M (2010) From colloidal stability in ionic liquids to advanced soft materials using unique media. Langmuir 27:9105–9115

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Okubo T (1986) Ordered solution structure of a monodispersed polystyrene latex as studied by the reflection spectrum method. J Chem Soc Faraday Trans 1(82):3163–3173

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Okubo T (1992) Blinking of colloidal single crystals in aqueous suspensions of monodisperse colloidal silica spheres. J Colloid Interf Sci 153:587–591

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Dr. Susumu Kawase of Soken Chemical & Engineering Co. (Tokyo) are acknowledged greatly for kind supplying monodispersed colloidal sphere samples of poly(methyl methacrylate).

Funding

This study was not funded by any other organization.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Colloidal Organization, Hatoyama 3-1-112, Uji, Kyoto, 611-0012, Japan

    Tsuneo Okubo

  2. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Faculty of Engineering, Gifu University, Yanagido 1-1, Gifu, Gifu, 501-1193, Japan

    Hiroshi Kimura & Akira Tsuchida

Authors
  1. Tsuneo Okubo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Hiroshi Kimura
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Akira Tsuchida
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Akira Tsuchida.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that we have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Okubo, T., Kimura, H. & Tsuchida, A. Phase diagram of colloidal crystals of poly(methyl methacrylate) spheres in the exhaustively deionized dispersion. Colloid Polym Sci 297, 115–124 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00396-018-4449-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00396-018-4449-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation