Disentangling kinetics from thermodynamics in heterogeneous colloidal systems

Abstract

In Nucleation and Growth, the process by which most heterogeneous systems form, thermodynamics sets the asymptotic boundaries toward which the system must evolve, while kinetics tries to cope with it by imposing the transport rates. In all heterogeneous colloidal systems observed in nature, composition, shape, structure and physical properties result from the trade-off between thermodynamics and kinetics. Here we show, by carefully selecting colloidal systems and controlling phase separation in microfluidic devices, that it becomes possible to disentangle kinetics effects from thermodynamics. Using amyloids and nanocellulose filamentous colloids, we demonstrate that decoupling kinetics from thermodynamics in the phase separation process unveils new physical phenomena, such as orders of magnitude shorter timescales, a wider phase diagram, and structures that are not observable via conventional liquid-liquid phase separation. Our approach enables on-demand fabrication of multicomponent heterogeneous liquid crystals, enhancing their potential, and introducing original fundamental and technological directions in multicomponent structured fluids.