Structural Studies of Physical Gels by Ultra-small-Angle and Small-Angle Scattering

Ultra-small-angle scattering studies of complex fluids

Recent experimental results from ultra-small-angle neutron and X-ray scattering (USANS and USAXS) studies of complex fluids, including colloidal dispersions, colloidal glasses, polymer blends, and biopolymer gels, are reviewed. We focus on data analysis and interpretation in the low q regime. New notable results include the apparent existence of large-scale structure in attractive colloidal gla...

Ultra-small-angle X-ray Scattering

Osmotic and Small-angle Neutron Scattering Properties of Dna Gels

Introduction In general, the description of polyelectrolyte systems (solutions and gels) requires a formalism that can take into account the existence of the multiple length scales that characterize the structure and reflect changes in the thermodynamic interactions. In the presence of high valence cations DNA undergoes a volume transition. The aim of the present study is to identify the main s...

Small-angle scattering studies of macromolecular solutions

In recent years, major progress has been achieved in developing novel approaches to interpret small-angle scattering data from solutions of biological macromolecules in terms of three-dimensional models. These advanced methods include: ab initio low-resolution shape and domain structure determination; modelling of quaternary structure by rigid-body refinement; simultaneous analysis of multiple ...

Light, Small Angle Neutron and X-Ray Scattering from Gels

This paper gives two examples of experiments that demonstrate the power of small angle scattering techniques in the study of swollen polymer networks. First, it is shown how the partly ergodic character of these systems is directly detected by neutron spin echo experiments. The observed total field correlation function of the intensity scattered from a neutral gel allows the ergodic contributio...