Rigidity of the crystals of thermo-sensitive gel spheres of poly (N-isopropyl acrylamide) in the deionized aqueous media as studied by the reflection spectroscopy in the sedimentation equilibrium

Reflection spectroscopy of deionized suspensions of the thermo-sensitive gels of poly (N-isopropylacrylamide) with various degrees of cross-linking were made in the sedimentation equilibrium at 20 °C. Rigidity of the crystals increased as sphere concentration increased and increased slightly as the degree of the cross-linking of the gel spheres increased. The fluctuation parameters of the gel crystals were between 0.05 and 0.07 and slightly larger than those of typical hard-sphere systems. These experimental results emphasize that the gel crystals are soft compared with those of typical hard-sphere systems and role of the extended electrical double layers for the crystallization of gel spheres is important but weak compared with that of hard colloidal spheres.