Tunable attractive and repulsive interactions between pH-responsive microgels
Abstract
We report direct measurements of the pairwise interparticle potential between poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-acrylic acid) (pNIPAm-co-AAc) colloidal microgels as a function of pH, as determined through Ornstein–Zernike analysis of the pair distribution function of quasi-2D dilute colloidal suspensions. The interaction potential ranges from purely repulsive at high pH due to electrosteric interactions to weakly attractive at low pH due to