Université de Fribourg

Brushlike interactions between thermoresponsive microgel particles

Scheffold, Frank ; Díaz-Leyva, Pedro ; Reufer, Mathias ; Braham, Nasser Ben ; Lynch, Iseult ; Harden, James L.

In: Physical Review Letters, 2010, vol. 104, no. 12, p. 128304

Using a simplified microstructural picture we show that interactions between thermosensitive microgel particles can be described by a polymer brushlike corona decorating the dense core. The softness of the potential is set by the relative thickness L0 of the compliant corona with respect to the overall size of the swollen particle R. The elastic modulus in quenched solid phases derived from the...