Langmuir, Vol.21, No.8, 3291-3295, 2005
Scattering structure factor of colloidal gels characterized by static light scattering, small-angle light scattering, and small-angle neutron scattering measurements
The scattering structure factor of a colloidal gel in a q range of 5 orders of magnitude has been determined by combining static light scattering, small-angle light scattering, and neutron scattering measurements. It exhibits simultaneously two types of structure information: a mass fractal scaling within the clusters that constitute the gel and a surface fractal scaling for length scales larger than that of the clusters. Such scattering behavior can be well interpreted by the pair-correlation function proposed in the literature to model an ideal structure constituted of mass fractal objects inside surface fractal objects.