A methodology for imaging the dynamics of individual microgel particles using high resolution scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is presented. To enable this, the microgels are dispersed in an ionic liquid, which due to its low vapor pressure allows them to remain in suspension even under the high vacuum conditions present in a typical electron gun. Thus, compared with conventional electron microscopy studies of microgels, no sample drying or freezing is necessary which preserves their morphology while also allowing to probe microgel dynamics in solution. The results based on the individually tracked particles are compared with results from dynamic light scattering (DLS) which measures the mean size and diffusion properties of large collectives of particles. For the size measurements, the SEM and DLS data are in general agreement. For the particle dynamics, monitoring individual microgel motion reveals complex dynamics in which, aside from the expected thermal motion, one observes effects such as clustering, rotation and drift. This is in contrast with a control sample of hard sphere-like silica particles where the motion is primarily diffusional in good agreement with DLS studies.
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January 2021
This content was originally published in
Journal of Undergraduate Reports in Physics
Research Article|
January 01 2021
Microgel Dynamics Characterization Using SEM
Samantha Tietjen;
Samantha Tietjen
a)
Department of Physics, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH 44115, USA
a)Corresponding authors: [email protected]
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Richard Sent;
Richard Sent
Department of Physics, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH 44115, USA
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Petru S. Fodor;
Petru S. Fodor
b)
Department of Physics, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH 44115, USA
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Kiril A. Streletzky
Kiril A. Streletzky
c)
Department of Physics, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH 44115, USA
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Samantha Tietjen
a)
Richard Sent
Petru S. Fodor
b)
Kiril A. Streletzky
c)
Department of Physics, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH 44115, USA
J. Undergrad. Rep. Phys. 31, 100011 (2021)
Citation
Samantha Tietjen, Richard Sent, Petru S. Fodor, Kiril A. Streletzky; Microgel Dynamics Characterization Using SEM. J. Undergrad. Rep. Phys. 1 January 2021; 31 (1): 100011. https://doi.org/10.1063/10.0006350
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