Controlling the dynamics of a bidimensional gel above and below its percolation transition

Abstract

The morphology and the microscopic internal dynamics of a bidimensional gel formed by spontaneous aggregation of gold nanoparticles confined at the water surface are investigated by a suite of techniques, including grazing-incidence x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy (GI-XPCS). The range of concentrations studied spans across the percolation transition for the formation of the gel. The dynamical features observed by GI-XPCS are interpreted in view of the results of microscopical imaging; an intrinsic link between the mechanical modulus and internal dynamics is demonstrated for all the concentrations. Our work presents, to the best of our knowledge, the first example of a transition from stretched to compressed correlation function actively controlled by quasistatically varying the relevant thermodynamic variable. Moreover, by applying a model proposed time ago by Duri and Cipelletti [A. Duri and L. Cipelletti, Europhys. Lett. 76, 972 (2006)] we are able to build a novel master curve for the shape parameter, whose scaling factor allows us to quantify a 'long time displacement length'. This characteristic length is shown to converge, as the concentration is increased, to the 'short time localization length' determined by pseudo Debye-Waller analysis of the initial contrast. Finally, the intrinsic dynamics of the system are then compared with that induced by means of a delicate mechanical perturbation applied to the interface.