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Thermo-responsive nanogel dispersions: dynamics and phase behaviour

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Abstract

The self assembly of nano or sub-micron sized particles into ordered structures have gained wide spread recognition due to their importance in fundamental studies as well as their practical applications in a wide range of disciplines. Deionised suspensions of charged polystyrene nanospheres exhibit long-range order at very dilute conditions (volume fraction ϕ ~ 0.001) whereas in hard-sphere colloids the crystallization occurs at much higher values (ϕ ~ 0.5). In these dispersions the particle size is fixed and temperature is not a controllable parameter to investigate the phase behaviour, whereas aqueous dispersions of thermo-responsive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) nanoparticles exhibit rich phase behaviour upon varying the temperature due to the variation in particle size as well as inter-particle interactions. This paper discusses the static/dynamic light scattering and confocal laser scanning microscopy studies on aqueous suspensions of PNIPAM nanogel particles having different particle number densities as a function of temperature. We report here our recent observations: (a) A liquid-like ordered PNIPAM nanogel dispersion exhibiting a fluid to fluid transition as a function of temperature (b) Violation of the dynamical criterion of freezing in PNIPAM nanogel liquid undergoing freezing (c) Dependence of crystal structure on the method of re-crystallization and (d) A split second peak in three-dimensional pair-correlation function of PNIPAM nanogel crystals. Present results are discussed in the light of those reported for hard-sphere and charged colloidal suspensions.

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Acknowledgements

Authors thank Dr. A. K. Arora, Dr. C. S. Sundar and Mr. M. C. Valsakumar for useful discussions and Dr. Baldev Raj for support and encouragement. Second author acknowledges UGC-DAE CSR for financial support. Authors thank Mr. Amit Kamle for the help in preparing Fig. 1a.

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  1. Condensed Matter Physics Division, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam, 603102, Tamil Nadu, India

    B. V. R. Tata, J. Brijitta & R. G. Joshi

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  1. B. V. R. Tata
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Correspondence to B. V. R. Tata.

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Tata, B.V.R., Brijitta, J. & Joshi, R.G. Thermo-responsive nanogel dispersions: dynamics and phase behaviour. Int J Adv Eng Sci Appl Math 5, 240–249 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12572-010-0016-5

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