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Role of microscopic phase separation in gelation of aqueous gelatin solutions
Damjan Pelc1, Sanjin Marion, Miroslav Požek
1Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Bijenička 32, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia. basletic@phy.hr.
Abstract:
Using a unique home-made cell for four-contact impedance spectroscopy of conductive liquid samples, we establish the existence of two low frequency conductivity relaxations in aqueous solutions of gelatin, in both liquid and gel states. A comparison with diffusion measurements using pulsed field gradient NMR, and circular dichroism spectroscopy, shows that the faster relaxation process is due to gelatin macromolecule self-diffusion. This single molecule diffusion is mostly insensitive to the macroscopic state of the sample, implying that we have a clear separation of gelatin molecules into a free and network-bound phase. Scaling relationships for the self-diffusion indicate that the gelation process is not a percolative phenomenon, but is caused by aggregation of triple helices into a system-spanning fibre network.
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