Js. Vanduijneveldt et al., EXPANSION AND CRYSTALLIZATION OF A SEDIMENT OF CHARGED COLLOIDAL SPHERES, The Journal of chemical physics, 99(9), 1993, pp. 6941-6949
An amorphous sediment of charged colloidal particles in a nonaqueous s
olvent was prepared by centrifugation. The evolution of sediment heigh
t and volume fraction profile to equilibrium were studied with light s
cattering. A simple sedimentation-diffusion equation allows the experi
mental data to be modeled quantitatively. The top of the sediment crys
tallizes within a week, whereas the lower part of the sediment does no
t show any sign of crystallization after several months, indicating a
strong concentration dependence of crystallization rate.