Short-Time Glassy Dynamics in Viscous Protein Solutions with Competing Interactions
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Updated: Mar 29, 2026

Cooling Rate Dependent Ellipsometry Measurements to Determine the Dynamics of Thin Glassy Films
Published on: January 26, 2016
P Douglas Godfrin1, Steven D Hudson2, Kunlun Hong3
1Center for Neutron Science, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716, USA.
Abstract:
The glass transition of colloidal dispersions interacting with both a short-ranged attraction and long-ranged repulsion is studied using highly purified lysozyme solutions. Newtonian liquid behavior is observed at all conditions while measurements of the dynamics in the short-time limit show features typical of glassy colloidal systems at high protein concentrations. This interesting behavior is due to the competition of the attraction and repulsion that produces a heterogeneous microstructure only at intermediate range length scales. The results demonstrate that theories for the macroscopic properties of systems with competing interactions need to include intermediate range order.
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