Gel formation and aging in weakly attractive nanocolloid suspensions at intermediate concentrations

We report x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy (XPCS) and rheometry experiments to study the temporal evolution of gel formation and aging in suspensions of silica nanocolloids possessing a tunable short-range attraction. The colloid volume fractions, phi = 0.20 and 0.43, are below the glass regime at high concentration and above the fractal regime at low concentration. Following a sudden initiation of the interparticle attraction, the suspensions display a protracted latency period in which they remain fluid before acquiring a measurable elastic shear modulus. The duration of the latency period and the subsequent rate of increase of the modulus vary strongly with the strength of the attraction. The XPCS results indicate dynamic heterogeneity among the colloids during this gel formation in which a growing fraction of the particles become localized. The temporal evolution of this localization correlates with that of the rheology. In particular, the time scale over which the fraction of localized particles increases tracks the duration of the latency period. Also, at phi = 0.20 the localization length characterizing the motion of the localized fraction scales onto the shear modulus with no free parameters as predicted by a self-consistent theory based on mode coupling [K. S. Schweizer and G. Yatsenko, J. Chem. Phys. 127, 164505 (2007)], while deviations from the predicted scaling at phi = 0.43 are observed near the gel point. The XPCS results also reveal slow, hyperdiffusive motion of the colloids in the newly formed gels that is attributed to strain from the relaxation of internal stress. While some features of this motion correlate with the evolving rheology, others appear decoupled from the macroscopic mechanical behavior. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3653380]