Project B1
Structure and Transport Properties of Charged Sphere Suspensions in Electric Fields
Project leaders
Summary
The electrokinetic flow behavior of charged colloidal spheres will be extensively studied using light scattering and microscopy. Experiments on one component systems will focus on flow induced fluctuations. We shall compare electrokinetic experiments, where the field couples to particles and counter-ions with pressure induced flow, where only the solvent is moved. Further we shall study the electrokinetics of mixtures of differently charged spheres as well as of confined monolayers, where for both cases an even richer phenomenology and interesting effects on the particle mobility are expected. For all situations addressed we expect to find significant changes in the characteristic transport mechanisms when going from weakly to strongly interacting systems. Our studies shall therefore also directly aid further theoretical developments.