Colloidal brazil nut effect in sediments of binary charged suspensions
arXiv:cond-mat/0401010 · doi:10.1209/epl/i2004-10168-7
Abstract
Equilibrium sedimentation density profiles of charged binary colloidal suspensions are calculated by computer simulations and density functional theory. For deionized samples, we predict a colloidal ``brazil nut'' effect: heavy colloidal particles sediment on top of the lighter ones provided that their mass per charge is smaller than that of the lighter ones. This effect is verifiable in settling experiments.
4 pages, 4 figures