Rotational diffusion in concentrated platelet systems measured with X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy

Using X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy we have measured the rotational modes of concentrated charged gibbsite platelets in the isotropic regime. This has been done by analyzing the data qualitatively using available theories for non-interacting systems. The relaxation spectra do not follow the same pattern as for spherical particles at larger wave vectors. It will be shown that this deviation from the behavior of spherical systems arises from the influence of the rotational modes. In addition, in the isotropic state a pre-transitional peak in the static q-dependent intensity at large q values is discussed. We suggest that this peak originates from a strong local alignment between platelets before the actual phase transition takes place.