abstract

• Abstract.: We studied the rotational and translational diffusion of optically anisotropic liquid crystal particles embedded in semidiluted polymer solutions of Poly-Ethylene-Oxide (PEO) at different concentrations and different molecular weights. The polymer radius of gyration was chosen to be similar to the size of the probe particles and the polymer concentrations used are just above the crossover concentration. Thus, the system consists of solid probe particles moving in a sea of overlapping particles of similar size. We found that the behavior of both particle dynamics, rotational and translational, is similar in the range of concentrations considered here. In both cases, two linear diffusive regimes are observed, separated by a subdiffusive time interval. The spatial scale at which this intermediate regime appears shows a dependence on both the polymer concentration and molecular weight, and has a value similar to the thickness of the polymer-depleted layer usually found in this kind of systems. Additionally, we observe that the colloidal dynamic scales with the overlapping degree of the polymer particles. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]. © 2015, EDP Sciences, SIF, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

authors

• Arauz Lara Bernardo José Luis
• Sarmiento Gómez Erick
• Sánchez-Miranda M.J.

publication date

• 2015-01-01

published in

• European Physical Journal E  Journal

keywords

• Flowing Matter: Liquids and Complex Fluids Anisotropy; Brownian movement; Ethylene; Liquid crystals; Molecular weight; Probes; Scales (weighing instruments); Sols; Anisotropic liquids; Complex fluids; Intermediate regimes; Polymer concentrations; Polymeric suspensions; Radius of gyration; Spherical particle; Translational diffusion; Suspensions (fluids)

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

• 10.1140/epje/i2015-15003-x

start page

end page

volume

• 38

issue

• 1