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A practical comparison of photon correlation and cross-correlation spectroscopy in nanoparticle and microparticle size evaluation

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Abstract

Monodisperse standard polystyrene particles were used to determine the differences between two methods for analyzing particle size based on dynamic light scattering—namely photon correlation spectroscopy (PCS) and photon cross-correlation spectroscopy (PCCS). We demonstrate that the cross-correlation technique achieves results more in line with real particle properties not only with respect to monodisperse systems, but also with respect to polydisperse standard polystyrene particle systems. In addition, suspensions of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles or PLGA (Poly(Lactide-co-Glycolide)) particles were studied by both PCS and PCCS in order to compare the measurements of non-standardized particles. Both methods were suitable for particle size distribution analysis with respect to the studied particle systems, but photon cross-correlation spectroscopy yielded more precise results and was able to distinguish particles with a diameter ratio of 4, whereas PCS showed a monomodal particle size distribution when measuring particles with a diameter ratio of 5. Measurements of non-standard samples confirmed previous findings that PCCS is more suitable for measurements of multi disperse systems.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Project Nr. LO1211, Materials Research Centre at FCH BUT- Sustainability and Development (National Programme for Sustainability I, Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Physical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Brno University of Technology, Purkynova 118/464, 612 00, Brno, Czech Republic

    Jana Burdíková, Filip Mravec & Miloslav Pekař

  2. Materials Research Centre, Faculty of Chemistry, Brno University of Technology, Purkynova 118/464, 612 00, Brno, Czech Republic

    Jana Burdíková, Filip Mravec, Jaromír Wasserbauer & Miloslav Pekař

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  1. Jana Burdíková
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  2. Filip Mravec
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  3. Jaromír Wasserbauer
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  4. Miloslav Pekař
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Correspondence to Jana Burdíková.

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Burdíková, J., Mravec, F., Wasserbauer, J. et al. A practical comparison of photon correlation and cross-correlation spectroscopy in nanoparticle and microparticle size evaluation. Colloid Polym Sci 295, 67–74 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00396-016-3982-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00396-016-3982-8

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