Effect of the particle surface charge density on the colloidal aggregation mechanism

We have studied the influence of the surface charge density of polymer colloids on the aggregation processes induced at a high salt concentration. In this way, the effect of the residual interaction between the particles on the aggregation mechanism was studied. The time dependence of the detailed cluster-size distribution and the time-independent scaling distribution were obtained by single particle light scattering. We found a change in the aggregation mechanism, expressed as a variation of the {μ} exponent value, when the surface charge was modified. {} 1996 The American Physical Society.