English

Dynamics and stability of dispersions of polyelectrolyte-filled multilayer microcapsules

Soft Condensed Matter 2007-05-23 v4

Abstract

We report dynamic and coagulation properties of a dispersion of polyelectrolyte multilayer microcapsules filled with solutions of a strong polyelectrolyte. The capsule self-diffusion coefficient in the vicinity of the wall is measured using a particle tracking procedure from confocal images of the dispersion. Our results suggest that the microcapsules take a charge of encapsulated polyions, which indicates a semi-permeability of the shell and a leakage of counter-ions. The diffusion of capsules in the force field is qualitatively similar to that of charged solid particles: The effective interaction potential contains a weak local attractive minimum and an electrostatic barrier. We also found that the aggregation of suspended capsules occurs faster than their sedimentation and adhesion onto a glass surface.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0509248,
  title  = {Dynamics and stability of dispersions of polyelectrolyte-filled multilayer microcapsules},
  author = {Byoung-Suhk Kim and Vladimir Lobaskin and Olga I. Vinogradova},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0509248},
  year   = {2007}
}