Crossover regime for the diffusion of nanoparticles in polyethylene glycol solutions: influence of the depletion layer

The viscosity in soft matter systems is a scale dependent quantity. In polymer solutions the viscosity of nanoprobes of size R approaches the macroscopic viscosity when R exceeds the radius of gyration of the polymer, Rg. The nano to macroviscosity crossover occurs for R [similar] Rg. Here we analyz...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Soft matter 2011-01, Vol.7 (16), p.7181-7186
Main Authors: Ziębacz, Natalia, Wieczorek, Stefan A., Kalwarczyk, Tomasz, Fiałkowski, Marcin, Hołyst, Robert
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Crossovers
Diffusion coefficient
Nanocomposites
Nanomaterials
Nanoparticles
Nanostructure
Polyethylene glycol
Viscosity
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Summary:The viscosity in soft matter systems is a scale dependent quantity. In polymer solutions the viscosity of nanoprobes of size R approaches the macroscopic viscosity when R exceeds the radius of gyration of the polymer, Rg. The nano to macroviscosity crossover occurs for R [similar] Rg. Here we analyze diffusion in a polymer (polyethylene glycol) solution of nanoparticles in the crossover regime. We report a scale dependent diffusion coefficient in this regime due to non-uniform viscosity in the depletion layer around particles. The phenomenological scaling of the slow diffusion coefficient as a function of probe size is compared to the same scaling for macroscopic viscosity as a function of polymer size.
ISSN:1744-683X
1744-6848
DOI:10.1039/c0sm01357a