Structure and dynamics of fractal aerogels

Interpenetration of fractal clusters drives elasticity in colloidal gels formed upon flow cessation

Colloidal gels are out-of-equilibrium soft solids composed of attractive Brownian particles that form a space-spanning network at low volume fractions. The elastic properties of these systems result from the network microstructure, which is very sensitive to shear history. Here, we take advantage of such sensitivity to tune the viscoelastic properties of a colloidal gel made of carbon black nanoparticles. Starting from a fluidized state at an applied shear rate ₀, we use an abrupt flow cessation to trigger a liquid-to-solid transition. We observe that the resulting gel is all the more elastic when the shear rate ₀ is low and that the viscoelastic spectra can be mapped on a master curve. Moreover, coupling rheometry to small angle X-ray scattering allows us to show that the gel microstructure is different from gels solely formed by thermal agitation where only two length scales are observed: the dimension of the colloidal and the dimension of the fractal aggregates. Competition between shear and thermal energy leads to gels with three characteristic length scales. Such gels structure in a percolated network of fractal clusters that interpenetrate each other. Experiments on gels prepared with various shear histories reveal that cluster interpenetration increases with decreasing values of the shear rate ₀ applied before flow cessation. These observations strongly suggest that cluster interpenetration drives the gel elasticity, which we confirm using a structural model. Our results, which are in stark contrast to previous literature, where gel elasticity was either linked to cluster connectivity or to bending modes, highlight a novel local parameter controlling the macroscopic viscoelastic properties of colloidal gels.

Proton NMR study of the state of water in fibrin gels, plasma, and blood clots

A proton NMR relaxation and pulsed field gradient self-diffusion study of water in fibrin gels, plasma, and blood clots has been performed with special emphasis on the effect of the sol-gel and shrinkage transitions. Deuteron NMR in fibrin gels was also studied to supplement the proton data. It is shown that a measurement of the water proton or deuteron T1/T2 ratio allows for a determination of the bound water fraction in all these systems. The change in the T1/T2 ratio at the shrinkage transition further allows for a determination of the surface fractal dimension of the gel if the change in the volume of the gel is known. The self-diffusion coefficient of water in these systems, which determines the transport properties of the gel, is found to be proportional to the free water fraction in both the nonshrunken and shrunken state.