Langmuir, Vol.26, No.4, 2438-2444, 2010
Colloidal Gas-Liquid Condensation of Polystyrene Latex Particles with Intermediate kappa a Values (5 to 160, a >> kappa(-1))
Polystyrene latex particles showed gas-liquid condensation under the conditions of large particle radius (a >> kappa(-1)) and intermediate kappa a, where kappa is the Debye-Huckel parameter and a is the particle radius. The particles were dissolved in deionized water containing ethanol from 0 to 77 vol %, settled to the bottom of the glass plate within 1 h, and then laterally moved toward the center of a cell over a 20 h period in reaching a state of equilibrium condensation. All of the suspensions that were 1 and 3 mu m in diameter and 0.01-0.20 vol % in concentration realized similar gas-liquid condensation with clear gas-liquid boundaries. In 50 vol %, ethanol solvent, additional ethanol was added to enhance the sedimentation force so as to restrict the particles in a monoparticle layer thickness. The coexistence of gas-liquid-solid (crystalline solid) was microscopically recognized from the periphery to the center of the condensates. A phase diagram of the gas-liquid condensation was created as a function of KCl concentration at a particle diameter of 3 mu m, 0.10 vol %, concentration, and 50:50 water/ethanol solvent at room temperature. The miscibility gap was observed in the concentration range from I to 250 mu M. There was all upper limit of salt concentration where the phase separation disappeared, showing nearly critical behavior of macroscopic density fluctuation from 250 mu M to I mM. These results add new experimental evidence to the existence of colloidal gas-liquid condensation and specify conditions of like-charge attraction between particles.