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Emergence and Evolution of a Particulate Network during Gelation and Coarsening of Attractive Colloids

Feb 2, 2026

The process of gelation in attractive colloids involves formation of an interconnected and percolated network, followed by its coarsening and maturation. In this study, the formation and evolution of this particulate network was analyzed, and deterministic quantitative measures were introduced to evaluate the key transition points. The rate of change in the number of colloidal clusters before and after percolation can be directly used to identify gelation as a continuous second order phase transition. Simultaneously the diameter of the particle network exhibits a distinguishable maxima, marking the precise moment of percolation transition. However, local measures of the structure such as coordination number do not reflect on the percolation. Alternatively, accumulative number of unique particle contacts can be used to indicate the long-time coarsening of the particulate structure. Finding a consistent behavior across varying attraction strength levels and volume fractions of colloids, it was proposed that percolation and coarsening of the particulate gels can be viewed as two distinct transitions with clearly distinguishable structural demarcations.

Publication

Authors

Safa Jamali (Northeastern University)

Additional Materials

U.S. National Science Foundation and NSF DMREF, Materials for Our Future

This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation Award No. 2015237. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. National Science Foundation. This site is maintained collaboratively by principal investigators with NSF DMREF awards, independent of the NSF.