Well-defined colloidal particles are crucial for studying fundamental problems using colloidal dispersions. The chemical and physical properties, such as e.g. charge, refractive index, mass density, of our particles can be precisely tailored to the needs of our envisaged experiments, which is why the synthesis and characterisation of colloidal model particles is key to our ms_research.
In our group, we use a wide range of particles made from different materials and with different shapes including raspberries, rods, banana-shaped particles, and dumbbells. We control their interactions using surface chemistry, and also use magnetic particles for our experiments on driven systems, or fluorescent particles to facilitate 3D imaging. To characterise the particles, we typically use a combination of light scattering, various types of optical microscopy, and electron microscopy.
