Universality laws in coagulation

We show that the process of irreversible, kinetic colloid aggregation exhibits universal behavior, independent of the detailed chemical nature of the colloidal particles. Modem methods of statistical physics, applied to a kinetic growth process, provide a good basis to model the observed behavior. Two limiting regimes of colloid aggregation are identified: rapid aggregation, limited solely by the diffusion of the growing clusters; and slow aggregation, limited by the reaction rate that leads to the formation of bonds between the clusters. In each regime the cluster structure is fractal, with fractal dimension d, 1.8 for diffusion-limited clusters and d, 2.1 for reaction-limited clusters. A scaling method is used to compare dynamic light scattering data obtained from completely different colloids aggregated under the two limiting conditions. These data provide a critical comparison of the behavior of the different colloids, and confirm the universality of each limiting regime of colloid aggregation.