Investigation of the sign of the Soret coefficient in different ionic and surfacted magnetic colloids using forced Rayleigh scattering and single-beam Z-scan techniques

The sign of the Soret coefficient S-T of a large set of ionic magnetic colloids (ionic ferrofluids (IFFs)) and surfacted magnetic colloids (surfacted ferrofluids (SFFs)) is determined using forced Rayleigh scattering and the single-beam Z-scan techniques. Different samples were investigated: acid and alkaline colloids with different values of pH; colloids with different concentrations of magnetic grains; colloids with grains of different typical diameters; colloids with magnetic grains with different coating natures; colloids with different non-polar and polar liquid carriers. Our results indicate that the sign Of ST depends on the sign of the surface charge of grains in IFFs. In the case of water-based SFFs, the thermodiffusive behaviour is opposite to that of IFFs; that is, grains coated with a cationic surfactant behave like negatively charged IFF (alkaline) grains and grains coated with an anionic surfactant behave like positively charged IFF (acid) grains. SFFs with grains coated with non-ionic surfactants dispersed in non-polar fluid carriers behave like SFFs with grains coated with a cationic surfactant. The nature of the liquid carrier itself is not the only determinant factor, except apparently in the case of non-polar fluids, where only S-T > 0 is found. These results cannot be explained with the available theories and it is highly probable that different mechanisms are present in the thermodiffusive behaviour of these complex fluids.