Rheological and flow birefringence studies of rod-shaped pigment nanoparticle dispersions

We study rheological and rheo-optical properties of suspensions of anisometric pigment particles in a non-polar fluid. Different rheological regimes from the dilute regime to an orientationally arrested gel state were characterized and compared with existing theoretical models. We demonstrate the in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of molecular liquids 2020-09, Vol.313, p.113401, Article 113401
Main Authors: Salamon, Péter, Geng, Yong, Eremin, Alexey, Stannarius, Ralf, Klein, Susanne, Börzsönyi, Tamás
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Colloids
Flow-induced birefringence
Liquid crystals
Nanoparticle suspensions
Rheology
Viscoelasticity
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Summary:We study rheological and rheo-optical properties of suspensions of anisometric pigment particles in a non-polar fluid. Different rheological regimes from the dilute regime to an orientationally arrested gel state were characterized and compared with existing theoretical models. We demonstrate the intricate flow behaviour in a wide range of volume fractions. A unique combination of the optical properties of the particles results in a giant rheo-optical effect: an unprecedentedly large shear stress-induced birefringence was found in the isotropic range, exhibiting a sharp pre-transitional behaviour. [Display omitted] •Suspensions of anisometric pigment nanoparticles show complex rheology.•Our studies span from dilute to concentrated suspensions.•A giant effective stress-optical coefficient is found even at low concentrations.•Concentrated suspensions exhibit an orientationally arrested nematic-like gel state.
ISSN:0167-7322
1873-3166
DOI:10.1016/j.molliq.2020.113401