Microscopic observation of ordered colloids in sedimentation equilibrium and the important role of Debye screening length. 3. Heavy and monodisperse polystyrene type spheres in aqueous solution of neutral polymers

The ordered structures are observed directly by the metallurgical microscope for the heavy (specific gravity=1.50) and monodisperse polystyrene type spheres in sedimentation equilibrium and in the presence of neutral polymers, polyvinylalcohol (PVA), polyethyleneglycol (PEG), polyvinyl-pyrrolidone (PVP), hydroxypropylcellulose (HPC), and polyacrylamide (PAA_m). The intersphere distances in the ordered lattices decrease by the addition of neutral polymer in the order, PVA < PEG < PVP < HPC < PAA_m. These effects of neutral polymers are reasonably well-explained by the intersphere repulsion from the electrical double layer interaction, which is influenced by the polymer adsorption on the latex surface by the hydrophobic and/or dipole-dipole interactions.