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A sol is a colloidal suspension made out of tiny solid particles [1] in a continuous liquid medium. Sols are stable, so that they do not settle down when left undisturbed, and exhibit the Tyndall effect, which is the scattering of light by the particles in the colloid. The size of the particles can vary from 1 nm - 100 nm.
Schematic representation of the different stages and routes of the sol–gel technology. In this chemical procedure, a "sol" (a colloidal solution) is formed that then gradually evolves towards the formation of a gel-like diphasic system containing both a liquid phase and solid phase whose morphologies range from discrete particles to continuous polymer networks.
A solute in a solution are individual molecules or ions, whereas colloidal particles are bigger. For example, in a solution of salt in water, the sodium chloride (NaCl) crystal dissolves, and the Na + and Cl − ions are surrounded by water molecules. However, in a colloid such as milk, the colloidal particles are globules of fat, rather than ...
Unlike solutions and colloids, if left undisturbed for a prolonged period of time, the suspended particles will settle out of the mixture. Although suspensions are relatively simple to distinguish from solutions and colloids, it may be difficult to distinguish solutions from colloids since the particles dispersed in the medium may be too small ...
Dissolution of small crystals or sol particles and the redeposition of the dissolved species on the surfaces of larger crystals or sol particles was first described by Wilhelm Ostwald in 1896. [4] [5] For colloidal systems, Ostwald ripening is also found in water-in-oil emulsions, while flocculation is found in oil-in-water emulsions. [6]
This distinguishes a suspension from a colloid, in which the colloid particles are smaller and do not settle. [2] Colloids and suspensions are different from solution , in which the dissolved substance (solute) does not exist as a solid, and solvent and solute are homogeneously mixed.
The distinction between a sol (solution) and a gel therefore appears to be understood in a manner analogous to the practical distinction between the elastic and plastic deformation ranges of a metal. The distinction lies in the ability to respond to an applied shear force via macroscopic viscous flow.
Typically, gels are synthesized via sol-gel processing, a wet-chemical technique involving a colloidal solution (sol) that acts as the precursor for an integrated network (gel). There are two possible mechanisms whereby organogels form depending on the physical intermolecular inter-actions, namely the fluid-filled fiber and the solid fiber ...