Rheological properties of aging thermosensitive suspensions

How Softness Matters in Soft Nanogels and Nanogel Assemblies

Softness plays a key role in determining the macroscopic properties of colloidal systems, from synthetic nanogels to biological macromolecules, from viruses to star polymers. However, we are missing a way to quantify what the term "softness" means in nanoscience. Having quantitative parameters is fundamental to compare different systems and understand what the consequences of softness on the macroscopic properties are. Here, we propose different quantities that can be measured using scattering methods and microscopy experiments. On the basis of these quantities, we review the recent literature on micro- and nanogels, i.e. cross-linked polymer networks swollen in water, a widely used model system for soft colloids. Applying our criteria, we address the question what makes a nanomaterial soft? We discuss and introduce general criteria to quantify the different definitions of softness for an individual compressible colloid. This is done in terms of the energetic cost associated with the deformation and the capability of the colloid to isotropically deswell. Then, concentrated solutions of soft colloids are considered. New definitions of softness and new parameters, which depend on the particle-to-particle interactions, are introduced in terms of faceting and interpenetration. The influence of the different synthetic routes on the softness of nanogels is discussed. Concentrated solutions of nanogels are considered and we review the recent results in the literature concerning the phase behavior and flow properties of nanogels both in three and two dimensions, in the light of the different parameters we defined. The aim of this review is to look at the results on micro- and nanogels in a more quantitative way that allow us to explain the reported properties in terms of differences in colloidal softness. Furthermore, this review can give researchers dealing with soft colloids quantitative methods to define unambiguously which softness matters in their compound.

Physical aging and compressed exponential behaviors in a model soft colloidal system

Diffusing wave spectroscopy (DWS)-based micro-rheology has been used in different optical geometries (backscattering and transmission) as well as different sample thicknesses in order to probe system dynamics at different length scales [D. J. Pine, D. A. Weitz, J. X. Zhu, E. Herbolzheimer. J. Phys., 1990, 51(18), 2101-2127]. Previous study from this lab [Q. Li, X. Peng, G. B. McKenna. Soft Matter, 2017, 13(7), 1396-1404] indicates the DWS-based micro-rheology observes the system non-equilibrium behaviors differently from macro-rheology. The object of the present work was to further explore the non-equilibrium dynamics and to address the range of utility of DWS as a micro-rheological method. A thermo-sensitive core-shell colloidal system was investigated both during aging and subsequent to aging into a metastable equilibrium state using temperature-jump induced volume fraction-jump experiments. We find that in the non-equilibrium state, significant differences in the measured dynamics are observed for the different geometries and length scales. Compressed exponential relaxations for the autocorrelation function g2(t) were observed for large length scales. However, upon converting the g2(t) data to the mean square displacement (MSD), such differences with length scale diminished and the long-time MSD behavior was consistent with diffusive behavior. These observations in the non-equilibrium behaviors for different length scales leads to questioning of some interpretations in the current field of light scattering-based micro-rheology and provides a possibility to interrogate the aging mechanisms in colloidal glasses from a broader perspective than normally considered in measurements of g2(t) using DWS-based micro-rheology.

Mechanical History Dependence in Carbon Black Suspensions for Flow Batteries: A Rheo-Impedance Study

We studied the effects of shear and its history on suspensions of carbon black (CB) in lithium ion battery electrolyte via simultaneous rheometry and electrical impedance spectroscopy. Ketjen black (KB) suspensions showed shear thinning and rheopexy and exhibited a yield stress. Shear step experiments revealed a two time scale response. The immediate effect of decreasing the shear rate is an increase in both viscosity and electronic conductivity. In a much slower secondary response, both quantities change in the opposite direction, leading to a reversal of the initial change in the conductivity. Stepwise increases in the shear rate lead to similar responses in the opposite direction. This remarkable behavior is consistent with a picture in which agglomerating KB particles can stick directly on contact, forming open structures, and then slowly interpenetrate and densify. The fact that spherical CB particles show the opposite slow response suggests that the fractal structure of the KB primary units plays an important role. A theoretical scheme was used to analyze the shear and time-dependent viscosity and conductivity. Describing the agglomerates as effective hard spheres with a fractal architecture and using an effective medium approximation for the conductivity, we found the changes in the derived suspension structure to be in agreement with our qualitative mechanistic picture. This behavior of KB in flow has consequences for the properties of the gel network that is formed immediately after the cessation of shear: both the yield stress and the electronic conductivity increase with the previously applied shear rate. Our findings thus have clear implications for the operation and filling strategies of semisolid flow batteries.

Long-term aging behaviors in a model soft colloidal system

Colloidal and molecular systems share similar behaviors near to the glass transition volume fraction or temperature. Here, aging behaviors after volume fraction up-jump (induced by performing temperature down-jumps) conditions for a PS-PNIPAM/AA soft colloidal system were investigated using light scattering (diffusing wave spectroscopy, DWS). Both aging responses and equilibrium dynamics were investigated. For the aging responses, long-term experiments (100 000 s) were performed, and both equilibrium and non-equilibrium behaviors of the system were obtained. In the equilibrium state, as effective volume fraction increases (or temperature decreases), the colloidal dispersion displays a transition from the liquid to a glassy state. The equilibrium α-relaxation dynamics strongly depend on both the effective volume fraction and the initial mass concentration for the studied colloidal systems. Compared with prior results from our lab [X. Di, X. Peng and G. B. McKenna, J. Chem. Phys., 2014, 140, 054903], the effective volume fractions investigated spanned a wider range, to deeper into the glassy domain. The results show that the α-relaxation time τ_α of the samples aged into equilibrium deviate from the classical Vogel-Fulcher-Tammann (VFT)-type expectations and the super-Arrhenius signature disappears above the glass transition volume fraction. The non-equilibrium aging response shows that the time for the structural evolution into equilibrium and the α-relaxation time are decoupled. The DWS investigation of the aging behavior after different volume fraction jumps reveals a different non-equilibrium or aging behavior for the considered colloidal systems compared with either molecular glasses or the macroscopic rheology of a similar colloidal dispersions.

Creep and aging of hard-sphere glasses under constant stress

We investigate the aging behavior of glassy suspensions of nearly hard-sphere colloids submitted to a constant shear stress. For low stresses, below the yield stress, the system is subject to creep motion. As the sample ages, the shear rate exhibits a power-law decrease with time with exponents that depend on the sample age. We use a combination of rheological experiments with time-resolved photon correlation spectroscopy to investigate the time evolution of the sample dynamics under shear on various time and length scales. Long-time light-scattering experiments reveal the occurrence of microscopic rearrangement events that are linked with the macroscopic strain deformation of the sample. Dynamic time sweep experiments indicate that while the internal microscopic dynamics slow down continuously with waiting time, the storage and loss moduli are almost constant after a fast, weak decrease, resembling the behavior of quenched systems with partially frozen-in stresses.

Temperature dependence of aging kinetics of hectorite clay suspensions

The aging of salt-free hectorite suspensions with different concentrations (c(L)=2.9, 3.2 and 3.5 wt%) stored for 2 days or 4 days was studied by rheology at different temperatures. The evolution of storage and loss moduli G' and G″ during aging followed aging time-temperature superposition. The temperature dependence of the shift factor a(T), which reflected the aging kinetics, was interpreted by the reaction-limited colloidal aggregation (RLCA) mechanism with counterion condensation in calculating the double-layer interaction of the charged clay particles. Temperature dependence of the plateau modulus and yield stress of the suspension aged for 800 s was modeled with the soft glassy rheology (SGR) theory. The estimated noise temperature x indicated that the sample aged at higher temperature corresponded to a deeper quench in the nonergodic state. Under larger amplitude of oscillatory shear, the suspension exhibited a strain rate-frequency superposition (SRFS). The shearing eliminated the effects of aging and heating.

The physics of the colloidal glass transition

As one increases the concentration of a colloidal suspension, the system exhibits a dramatic increase in viscosity. Beyond a certain concentration, the system is said to be a colloidal glass; structurally, the system resembles a liquid, yet motions within the suspension are slow enough that it can be considered essentially frozen. For several decades, colloids have served as a valuable model system for understanding the glass transition in molecular systems. The spatial and temporal scales involved allow these systems to be studied by a wide variety of experimental techniques. The focus of this review is the current state of understanding of the colloidal glass transition, with an emphasis on experimental observations. A brief introduction is given to important experimental techniques used to study the glass transition in colloids. We describe features of colloidal systems near and in glassy states, including increases in viscosity and relaxation times, dynamical heterogeneity and ageing, among others. We also compare and contrast the glass transition in colloids to that in molecular liquids. Other glassy systems are briefly discussed, as well as recently developed synthesis techniques that will keep these systems rich with interesting physics for years to come.

Shear-transformation-zone theory of linear glassy dynamics

We present a linearized shear-transformation-zone (STZ) theory of glassy dynamics in which the internal STZ transition rates are characterized by a broad distribution of activation barriers. For slowly aging or fully aged systems, the main features of the barrier-height distribution are determined by the effective temperature and other near-equilibrium properties of the configurational degrees of freedom. Our theory accounts for the wide range of relaxation rates observed in both metallic glasses and soft glassy materials such as colloidal suspensions. We find that the frequency-dependent loss modulus is not just a superposition of Maxwell modes. Rather, it exhibits an α peak that rises near the viscous relaxation rate and, for nearly jammed, glassy systems, extends to much higher frequencies in accord with experimental observations. We also use this theory to compute strain recovery following a period of large, persistent deformation and then abrupt unloading. We find that strain recovery is determined in part by the initial barrier-height distribution, but that true structural aging also occurs during this process and determines the system's response to subsequent perturbations. In particular, we find by comparison with experimental data that the initial deformation produces a highly disordered state with a large population of low activation barriers, and that this state relaxes quickly toward one in which the distribution is dominated by the high barriers predicted by the near-equilibrium analysis. The nonequilibrium dynamics of the barrier-height distribution is the most important of the issues raised and left unresolved in this paper.

Aging in dense suspensions of soft thermosensitive microgel particles studied with particle-tracking microrheology

Using particle tracking microrheology, we studied the glass transition in dense suspensions of thermosensitive microgel particles. These suspensions can be tuned reversibly between the glass state at low temperature and the liquid state at high temperature. In the glass state, the ensemble averaged mean squared displacements (MSDs) of added fluorescent tracer particles depend on the age of the suspension. We also determine the local viscoelastic moduli, G' and G", from the MSDs using the Generalized Stokes-Einstein Relation and compare them to the bulk moduli, measured using conventional rheometry. With particle tracking, one probes the viscoelastic moduli in a lower frequency range than with macrorheology, which makes it possible to determine the mean relaxation time that is inaccessible with macrorheology. In the glass state, the mean relaxation time increases linearly with the age of the sample and the short time particle displacement distributions are non-Gaussian, indicating inhomogeneity of the system. The observed difference between conventional and microrheology is explained quantitatively assuming that the tracer particles are surrounded by a viscoelastic liquid shell, different from the bulk.

Glass transition and aging in dense suspensions of thermosensitive microgel particles

We report a thermosensitive microgel suspension that can be tuned reversibly between the glass state at low temperature and the liquid state at high temperature. Unlike hard spheres, we find that the glass transition for these suspensions is governed by both the volume fraction and the softness of the particles, where softer suspensions form a glass at higher effective volume fractions. In the glass state, these suspensions show aging where the relaxation times increase linearly with age, irrespective of the degree of particle softness. This relaxation scaling is in contrast with hard sphere behavior but consistent with the soft glassy rheology model.