2007/05/31 by Emanuela Zaccarelli · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #cond-mat.soft
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/0953-8984/19/32/323101
published as J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 19, 323101 (2007) · topical review, accepted in J. Phys. Condens. Matter
arxiv created 2007/06/12 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01
We attempt a classification of different colloidal gels based on colloid-colloid interactions. We discriminate primarily between non-equilibrium and equilibrium routes to gelation, the former case being slaved to thermodynamic phase separation while the latter is individuated in the framework of competing interactions and of patchy colloids. Emphasis is put on recent numerical simulations of colloidal gelation and their connection to experiments. Finally we underline typical signatures of different gel types, to be looked in more details in experiments.