Eur. Phys. J. E (2005) 16: 77-80
https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/e2005-00009-x

Regular Articles

Non-equilibrium behavior of sticky colloidal particles: beads, clusters and gels

¹ School of Physics, The University of Edinburgh, Mayfield Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JZ, Scotland, UK
² Hahn-Meitner-Institut Berlin, Glienicker Str. 100, 14109, Berlin, Germany

^* e-mail: w.poon@ed.ac.uk

Received: 17 November 2004
Published online: 31 January 2005

Abstract

To understand the non-equilibrium behavior of colloidal particles with short-range attraction, we studied salt-induced aggregation of lysozyme. Optical microscopy revealed four regimes: bicontinuous texture, ‘beads’, large aggregates, and transient gelation. The interaction of a metastable liquid-liquid binodal and an ergodic to non-ergodic transition boundary inside the equilibrium crystallization region can explain our findings.