Transient formation of bcc crystals in suspensions of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-based microgels

Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2013 Nov;88(5):052308. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.88.052308. Epub 2013 Nov 13.

Abstract

We present a small-angle x-ray scattering study of crystals formed by temperature-sensitive, swollen microgel particles consisting of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) copolymerized with acrylic acid and 5 mol % of a cross-linker. As for hard spheres, the random hexagonal close-packed structure is predominant during crystal growth and slowly transforms toward the face-centered-cubic structure. However, a transient phase of body-centered-cubic crystal is observed in an intermediate range of effective volume fractions. We estimate that the studied suspensions are close to a transition from face-centered-cubic to body-centered-cubic structure that can be understood by the tendency of the system to maximize the excluded volume and minimize the contact area between the particles.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't