Electrokinetics in extremely bimodal suspensions

Prompted by the results obtained by Mantegazza et al. [Nature Physics 1 (2005) 103], where the electric birefringence of suspensions of elongated particles was strikingly affected by the presence of a sea of very small (size ratio lower than 10:1) colloidal spheres, we have undertaken an investigation of other electrokinetic phenomena in suspensions containing various relative concentrations of large (Teflon or polystyrene latex) and small (nanometer-sized silica spheres) colloids. We have determined the quantities that might be greatly affected by the size distribution of the particles, mainly in the presence of ac electric fields, since the response of the suspensions will show very characteristic relaxations, dominated in principle by the size of the particles. In this work, we report on measurements of the dielectric dispersion of mixed particles as a function of the concentration, ionic strength, and field frequency. The results indicate that the response is not just a simple combination of those obtained with suspensions of the individual particles, and in fact the presence of even small amounts of the small particles affects considerably the frequency response of the suspensions. (C) 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.