We study the formation and growth of equilibrium clusters in a suspension of weakly-charged colloidal particles and small non-adsorbing polymers. The effective potential is characterised by a short-range attraction and a long-range repulsion. The size, shape and local structure of the clusters are studied using three-dimensional particle microscopy. We observe a rapid growth in the mean cluster size and the average number of nearest neighbours approaching the gel boundary.
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0506566,
title = {Equilibrium cluster formation and gelation},
author = {Rodrigo Sanchez and Paul Bartlett},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0506566},
year = {2009}
}