Directed percolation identified as equilibrium pre-transition towards non-equilibrium arrested gel states
Kohl M, Capellmann RF, Laurati M, Egelhaaf SU, Schmiedeberg M (2016)
Publication Status: Published
Publication Type: Journal article
Publication year: 2016
Journal
Publisher: NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
Book Volume: 7
DOI: 10.1038/ncomms11817
Abstract
The macroscopic properties of gels arise from their slow dynamics and load-bearing network structure, which are exploited by nature and in numerous industrial products. However, a link between these structural and dynamical properties has remained elusive. Here we present confocal microscopy experiments and simulations of gel-forming colloid-polymer mixtures. They reveal that gel formation is preceded by continuous and directed percolation. Both transitions lead to system-spanning networks, but only directed percolation results in extremely slow dynamics, ageing and a shrinking of the gel that resembles synaeresis. Therefore, dynamical arrest in gels is found to be linked to a structural transition, namely directed percolation, which is quantitatively associated with the mean number of bonded neighbours. Directed percolation denotes a universality class of transitions. Our study hence connects gel formation to a well-developed theoretical framework, which now can be exploited to achieve a detailed understanding of arrested gels.
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APA:
Kohl, M., Capellmann, R.F., Laurati, M., Egelhaaf, S.U., & Schmiedeberg, M. (2016). Directed percolation identified as equilibrium pre-transition towards non-equilibrium arrested gel states. Nature Communications, 7. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms11817
MLA:
Kohl, M., et al. "Directed percolation identified as equilibrium pre-transition towards non-equilibrium arrested gel states." Nature Communications 7 (2016).
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