Dynamic Arrest in Spinodal Decomposition as a Route to Gelation
Abstract
We show that gelation of colloid-polymer mixtures can result from spinodal decomposition into interconnected colloid-rich and colloid-poor regions. Solidification results when the local particle volume fraction in the colloid-rich region undergoes an attractive glass transition, leading to kinetic arrest of the spinodal decomposition. This results in a sharp gelation transition characterized by the sudden appearance of large, arrested structures. This scenario is supported by mode coupling theory, which gives a good description of the arrested dynamics when we use the full static structure as input.Keywords
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