Designing binary colloidal gel microstructure through sequential gelation.

Abstract

Although multi-component colloidal gels have been the subject of considerable interest in recent years, the exploitation of temporal control in colloidal gel formation has remained an underexplored niche. Yet, the implementation of sequential gelation mechanisms presents compelling opportunities for the design of multi-component gels with tunable structural and mechanical properties. In this study, we model the sequential gelation of a binary colloidal system whose inter- and intraspecies attractions can be modified through independent mechanisms. By tuning various system parameters such as colloidal volume fraction, colloidal species proportions, gelation delay and interparticle attractions, we evaluate the effects of these parameters on the resulting gel structures. Our findings lay the groundwork for new design strategies of tunable multicomponent gels.