Effects of Light Dispersed Particles on the Stability of Dense Suspended Particles Against Sedimentation

A novel method in which vesicular dispersions of the double-chain cationic surfactant DDAB (didodecyldimethylammonium bromide) stabilize suspensions of high density titania particles was recently presented (Yang, Y.-J; Corti, D.S.; Franses, E. I. Langmuir 2015, 31, 8802–8808). At high enough DDAB concentration, the vesicles form a close-packed structure, providing strong resistance to the sedimentation of the titania particles, while the dispersions remain highly shear-thinning with moderate limiting viscosities. Here, to elucidate the key factors of the mechanism by which vesicles or other nonsettling particles stabilize high density particles against sedimentation, we use Brownian dynamics simulations (BDS) to examine the sedimentation behavior of mixtures of “dense particles” that settle rapidly on their own and “light particles” that represent nonsettling “rigid vesicles”. BDS confirm that for large enough values of the volume fraction ϕ2 of the light particles, the dense particles should remain suspe...