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Published on: August 23, 2012
One-directional crystal growth in charged colloidal silica dispersions driven by diffusion of base
Junpei Yamanaka1, Masako Murai, Yumie Iwayama
1Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Nagoya City University, 3-1 Tanabe, Mizuho, Nagoya, Aichi 467-8603, Japan. yamanaka@phar.nagoya-cu.ac.jp
Abstract:
Aqueous dispersions of charged colloidal silica particles showed a novel one-directional crystal growth by diffusion of a weak base, pyridine. The colloidal crystal consisted of pillar-shaped crystal grains whose height and width were in the order of centimeter and subcentimeter, respectively. The growth process was explainable in terms of (i) the diffusion of pyridine with neutralization reactions between weakly acidic silica surfaces, (ii) charging up of the silica particles, and (iii) the charge-induced crystallization of the dispersions.
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