Amorphous Clustering in Highly Charged Dilute Poly(chlorostyrene-styrene sulfonate) Colloids

Abstract

Poly(chlorostyrene-styrene sulfonate) particles are synthesized to determine structural ordering by the ultrasmall-angle x-ray scattering technique. We report amorphous clustering for the first time in dilute deionized suspensions for different particle concentrations. Under the same conditions confocal microscopic observations revealed the formation of voids. These observations suggest counterion-mediated long-range attraction in the effective interparticle interaction. Monte Carlo simulations with such an interaction were in good agreement with the observations.