Issue 36, 2013

In situ hard X-ray microscopy of self-assembly in colloidal suspensions

Abstract

An experimental setup combining full-field transmission X-ray microscopy (TXM) and microradian X-ray diffraction (μradXRD) is tested for the in situ study of self-organization of colloidal dispersions of anisotropic particles. Averaged structural information of the samples is determined by μradXRD and local morphology is determined by TXM. Utilization of hard X-rays (12.2 keV) and the ease of switching from diffraction mode to microscopy mode makes such a setup a unique tool, especially for the study of opaque colloidal systems. We demonstrate diffraction patterns together with real space images of the following morphologies: smectic structures in the sediment of colloidal silica rods, the reorientation of a smectic phase of goethite particles in an elevated magnetic field and an interface region between isotropic and ordered phases in a dispersion of colloidal hematite cubes.

Graphical abstract: In situ hard X-ray microscopy of self-assembly in colloidal suspensions

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
13 Mar 2013
Accepted
24 Jun 2013
First published
26 Jun 2013

RSC Adv., 2013,3, 15670-15677

In situ hard X-ray microscopy of self-assembly in colloidal suspensions

D. V. Byelov, J. Meijer, I. Snigireva, A. Snigirev, L. Rossi, E. van den Pol, A. Kuijk, A. Philipse, A. Imhof, A. van Blaaderen, G. J. Vroege and A. V. Petukhov, RSC Adv., 2013, 3, 15670 DOI: 10.1039/C3RA41223G

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