Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 18, 2025

Synthesis and Characterization of Supramolecular Colloids
Published on: April 22, 2016
Phase stability of dispersions of hollow silica nanocubes mediated by non-adsorbing polymers
F Dekker1, Á González García1,2, A P Philipse1
1Van 't Hoff Laboratory for Physical and Colloid Chemistry, Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science, Utrecht University, Padulaan 8, 3584 CH, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Abstract:
Although there are theoretical predictions (Eur. Phys. J. E 41, 110 (2018)) for the rich-phase behaviour of colloidal cubes mixed with non-adsorbing polymers, a thorough verification of this phase behaviour is still underway; experimental studies on mixtures of cubes and non-adsorbing polymers in bulk are scarce. In this paper, mixtures of hollow silica nanocubes and linear polystyrene in N,-N-dimethylformamide are used to measure the structure factor of the colloidal cubes as a function of non-adsorbing polymer concentration. Together with visual observations these structure factors enabled us to assess the depletion-mediated phase stability of cube-polymer mixtures. The theoretical and experimental phase boundaries for cube-depletant mixtures are in remarkable agreement, despite the simplifications underlying the theory employed.
More Related Videos
07:39Facile Synthesis of Worm-like Micelles by Visible Light Mediated Dispersion Polymerization Using Photoredox Catalyst
Published on: June 8, 2016
11:13Creating Sub-50 Nm Nanofluidic Junctions in PDMS Microfluidic Chip via Self-Assembly Process of Colloidal Particles
Published on: March 13, 2016
Related Concept Videos
Colloids
Colloidal precipitates