Van der Waals attraction between Stober silica particles in a binary solvent system

Hydrophilic Stober silica particles are stable in ethanol, but flocculation may be induced by the addition of sufficient cyclohexane. Low-shear rheological measurements indicated non-Newtonian behaviour beyond the critical cyclohexane concentration. The thickness and composition of the solvation layer around the particles were calculated from the adsorption excess isotherm on the basis of a multilayer adsorption model. The composition dependences of the Hamaker constants of the dispersion medium and the adsorption layer were obtained from optical dispersion measurements. A single-sheet, hard-sphere model predicted a weak van der Waals attraction in the ethanolic regime, but a strong attraction in the cyclohexane-rich region, in good accordance with the rheological properties of the dispersions and visual observations.