Abstract
Stable colloidal suspensions of cellulose crystallites with negatively charged sulfate groups on their surface were prepared by acid hydrolysis of filter paper. The suspensions, which were free of added electrolyte, formed chiral nematic ordered phases above a critical concentration. A sharp boundary was observed between coexisting chiral nematic and isotropic phases, enabling measurements to be made of the relative amounts of each phase as a function of total cellulose concentration. The isotropic-to-chiral nematic phase equilibrium was sensitive to the nature of the counterions present in the suspension. Samples were prepared with sodium, potassium, cesium, ammonium, tetramethylammonium, tetraethylammonium, tetrapropylammonium, tetrabutylammonium, trimethylammonium, and triethylammonium counterions. Suspensions with H+ counterions formed an ordered phase at the lowest concentrations of crystallites. For inorganic counterions, the critical concentration for ordered phase formation increases in the order ...
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