To quantify the effects of surface conduction behind the slip plane on the electrokinetic transport properties of colloids, we have extended the thin-double-layer theory of Fixman for dilute sols of spherical particles. The computations show that it causes the static conductivity and the low-frequency dielectric response of the sol to increase and the mobility of the particles to decrease. Hence, the occurrence of surface conduction significantly changes the relationships between the different electrokinetic properties. Therefore, for a rigorous interpretation of experimental results taking possible effects of surface conduction adequately into account, it is imperative to collect data with more than one electrokinetic technique. For polystyrene latices, a comparison between theory and experiment has been made. The mobility and static conductivity data can be well reconciled if surface conduction is accounted for. The corresponding estimates of surface charge densities agree very well with values obtained by independent measurements. However, the extreme dielectric behaviour of latex colloids cannot be attributed to surface conduction.
Small‐angle X‐ray scattering (SAXS) was applied for the structural analysis of an industrial polymer dispersion in water (synthetic latex). For the preparation of the spherical latex particles under investigation, butadiene, styrene, and acrylic acid were used as monomers in a seeded emulsion polymerization process. The product is widely being used as a film‐forming agent for coatings in the paper‐making industry. It is demonstrated that by measuring the SAXS curves at different contrasts the overall particle size, mass density, polydispersity, and degree of heterogeneity can be estimated with a good accuracy, even without the necessity of a detailed fitting procedure. In particular, one obtains information about the spatial distribution of the various monomer units within the particles. Five isoscattering points could be observed in the contrast variation measurements and the scattering curves at all contrasts could be modeled with a fully consistent set of fit parameters. It is thus safe to conclude that the contrast agent sucrose does not affect the particle structure. A quantitative fitting of the experimental data set revealed that a significant amount of the poly(acrylic acid) is preferentially located in a thin shell of ca. 2 nm thickness around the core of the particles, that is mainly formed by poly(styrene‐co‐butadiene). The obtained results are fully consistent with additional measurements of the particle mass density, of the hydrodynamic particle radius by dynamic light scattering, and of the particle surface charge by potentiometric titration. It is concluded that SAXS is a highly useful tool for characterizing the structure of industrial latexes.SAXS data of a BAYSTAL® latex measured at various contrasts, the weight fraction of sucrose in the dispersion medium is given in the legend.magnified imageSAXS data of a BAYSTAL® latex measured at various contrasts, the weight fraction of sucrose in the dispersion medium is given in the legend.
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