Biomedical subjects

M Raşa

Publications and source records attributed to M Raşa.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Stability of mixtures of charged silica, silica-alumina, and magnetite colloids.

We report experiments on the stability of aqueous mixtures of charged colloidal magnetite and charged silica and silica covered with alumina particles of similar size. First, positively charged magnetite dispersions were mixed with negatively charged silica dispersions at pH 4, at different volume ratios and low colloid volume fractions, producing mixtures which were stable over a period of weeks despite the expected electrostatic attraction between the oppositely charged particles. When magnetite particles were mixed with positively charged silica covered with alumina at pH 4 under exactly the same conditions, some of the systems separated to form a magnetite sediment. When the volume fraction of the initial dispersions was increased, the behavior of the mixtures was the opposite: positive magnetite/negative silica mixtures were unstable at intermediate volume ratios. The unexpected behavior of the mixtures was investigated by means of electrophoretic mobility, initial susceptibility, and dynamic light scattering measurements as well as sedimentation experiments.

Aluminum Oxide↗

PubMed2004

Heteroaggregation, repeptization and stability in mixtures of oppositely charged colloids.

We report a study of mixtures of initially oppositely charged particles with similar size. Dispersions of silica spheres (negatively charged) and alumina-coated silica spheres (positively charged) at low ionic strength, mixed at various volume ratios, exhibited a surprising stability up to compositions of 50% negative colloids as well as spontaneous repeptization of particles from the early-stage formed aggregates. The other mixtures were found to contain large heteroaggregates, which were imaged using cryogenic electron microscopy. Electrophoretic mobility, electrical conductivity, static and dynamic light scattering and sedimentation were studied as a function of volume fraction of the mixed dispersions to investigate particle interactions and elucidate the repeptization phenomenon.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2003

Initial susceptibility, flow curves, and magneto-optics of inverse magnetic fluids.

We introduce inverse magnetic fluids, consisting of gibbsite [Al(OH)(3)] platelets and alumina (Al2O3) spheres dispersed in a magnetic fluid, studied together with silica (SiO2) dispersions based on the same magnetic fluid matrix. Atomic force microscopy, optical microscopy, and alternate gradient magnetometry confirm the remarkable stability of the samples. Optical microscopy shows aggregation of nonmagnetic spheres, which, surprisingly, strongly depends on the concentration of the magnetic fluid rather than the concentration of nonmagnetic particles. Our model for the initial susceptibility of inverse magnetic fluids agrees very well with experimental data for systems containing spherical particles. The flow curves in an external magnetic field are strongly influenced by the aggregation of nonmagnetic particles or preformed nonmagnetic particle clusters, and by their disruption due to the shear flow. Static linear magnetobirefringence and magnetodichroism of all samples are investigated both experimentally and theoretically. These effects, which occur in all magnetic fluids, can be enhanced by the additional anisotropy due to the magnetic holes. The experiments we performed showed that, at a wavelength of 820 nm, the magnetodichroism is increased while the magneto-birefringence decreases when nonmagnetic particles were dispersed in the magnetic fluid. Magneto-birefringence is expected to be increased at large enough wavelengths only.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2002

Atomic force microscopy and magnetic force microscopy study of model colloids.

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is used to study the size, shape, and polydispersity of a variety of magnetic and nonmagnetic model colloids, previously imaged by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) only. Both height and phase images are analyzed and special attention is given to 3D morphology and softness of particles, as well as structures and presence of secondary components in the colloid, difficult to investigate with TEM. Several methods of tip characterization followed by deconvolution were applied in order to improve the accuracy of lateral diameter determination. In the case of magnetite particles dispersed in conventional ferrofluids, we explore both experimentally and theoretically the possibility of using magnetic force microscopy (MFM). We propose and discuss several models which allow to estimate the magnetic moment of a single domain superparamagnetic sphere using MFM, which cannot be done with other techniques; alternatively the tip magnetization can be determined.

Journal Article↗