Investigating Diffusion Coefficient Using Dynamic Light Scattering Technique

In this work, the Z-average, effective, apparent diffusion coefficients and their poly-dispersity indexes were investigated for dilute poly-disperse homogeneous spherical particles in dispersion where the Rayleigh-Gans-Debye approximation is valid. The results reveal that the values of the apparent and effective diffusion coefficients at a scattering angle investigated are consistent and the difference between the effective and Z-average diffusion coefficients is a function of the mean particle size, size distribution and scattering angle. For the small particles with narrow size distributions, the Z-average diffusion coefficient can be got directly at any scattering angle. For the small particles with wide size distributions, the Z-average diffusion coefficient should be measured at a small scattering angle. For large particles, in order to obtain a good approximate value of Z-average diffusion coefficient, the wider the particle size distribution, the smaller the scattering angle that the DLS data are measured. The poly-dispersity index of the effective diffusion coefficient at a scattering angle investigated is consistent with that of the Z-average diffusion coefficient and without considering the influences of noises, the difference between the polydispersity indexes of the Z-average and apparent diffusion coefficients is determined by the mean particle size, size distribution and scattering angle together.