Colloidal stability and coagulation kinetics study of different sized sulphur nanoparticles

Figures & data

Figure 1. Scanning electron micrograph representing the shape and surface topology of the colloidal sulphur particles.

Figure 2. (A) Determination of actual (core) size of custom-made, (B) orthorhombic and (C) monoclinic SNPs.

Table 1. The aggregation ratio characteristics of the adhesion between the SNPs in use

Physical parameters		RH of SNPs in nm (d DLS ^a)		Aggregation ratio (d DLS/d TEM ^b)
		Orthorhombic SNPs	Monoclinic SNPs	Orthorhombic SNPs	Monoclinic SNPs
Temperature (°C)	25	88.83	87.54	8.89	5.84
	35	94.9	86.15	9.49	5.75
	45	99.47	84.83	9.97	5.66
	55	102.4	83.06	10.2	5.37
Dilution (Ethanol–SNP: water)	1:5	84.3	84.42	8.4	5.63
	1:7	79.9	77.5	7.90	5.17
	1:9	82.6	73.8	8.26	4.92
	1:11	82.4	72.4	8.24	4.83
Time drive	1st week	87.1	87.4	8.71	5.83
	2nd week	89.27	88.97	8.93	5.94
	3rd week	87.9	90.8	8.79	6.05
	4th week	88.38	91.4	8.83	6.09
Notes: ^a d DLS: Hydrodynamic radius (RH ) of SNPs as obtained from dynamic light scattering.
^b d TEM: Actual (core) size of orthorhombic and monoclinic SNPs was ∼10 and ∼15 nm, respectively.

Figure 3. (A) Effect of temperature, (B) time drive (C) and dilution on the hydrodynamic radius of custom-made and synthesised SNPs.

Table 2. Effect of weeks and time interval between sample preparation and each successive round of experiments on the hydrodynamic radius of SNPs

		Source of variation	Degrees of freedom (df)	Sum of squares (SS)	Mean sum of squares (MS)	F value^d	Pr(>F)
Orthorhombic SNPs
T ^a	1	2529.14	MST	2529.14	FT	522.84	<2 e−16
W ^b	3	610.15	MSW	203.38	FW	42.046	1.35 e−13
E ^c	49	237.02	MSE	4.84
Monoclinic SNPs
T	1	3213.88	MST	3213.88	FT	615.81	<2 e−16
W	3	989.32	MSW	329.73	FW	63.17	4.66 e−13
E	49	255.31	MSE	5.219
Notes: FT : MS T /MS E and FW : MS W /MS E ; Pr (>F): Probability (p) value for FT and FW .
^a T: Time interval between sample preparation and each successive round of experiments, considered as variable.
^b W: Week considered as factor.
^c E: Errors of the presented statistical model.
^dCut-off value of the F test.