• Featured in Physics
  • Editors' Suggestion

Kinetics of Network Formation and Heterogeneous Dynamics of an Egg White Gel Revealed by Coherent X-Ray Scattering

Nafisa Begam, Anastasia Ragulskaya, Anita Girelli, Hendrik Rahmann, Sivasurender Chandran, Fabian Westermeier, Mario Reiser, Michael Sprung, Fajun Zhang, Christian Gutt, and Frank Schreiber
Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 098001 – Published 2 March 2021
Physics logo See synopsis: Watching an Egg Cook with X Rays
PDFHTMLExport Citation

Abstract

The kinetics of heat-induced gelation and the microscopic dynamics of a hen egg white gel are probed using x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy along with ultrasmall-angle x-ray scattering. The kinetics of structural growth reveals a reaction-limited aggregation process with a gel fractal dimension of 2 and an average network mesh size of ca. 400 nm. The dynamics probed at these length scales reveals an exponential growth of the characteristic relaxation times followed by an intriguing steady state in combination with a compressed exponential correlation function and a temporal heterogeneity. The degree of heterogeneity increases with decreasing length scale. We discuss our results in the broader context of experiments and models describing attractive colloidal gels.

  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Received 23 July 2020
  • Revised 12 November 2020
  • Accepted 11 January 2021

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.098001

© 2021 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Physics of Living SystemsCondensed Matter, Materials & Applied PhysicsPolymers & Soft Matter

synopsis

Key Image

Watching an Egg Cook with X Rays

Published 2 March 2021

An x-ray scattering technique reveals how egg whites gel on a range of length and timescales.

See more in Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Nafisa Begam1,*, Anastasia Ragulskaya1, Anita Girelli1, Hendrik Rahmann2, Sivasurender Chandran3, Fabian Westermeier4, Mario Reiser2,5, Michael Sprung4, Fajun Zhang1,†, Christian Gutt2,‡, and Frank Schreiber1,§

  • 1Institut für Angewandte Physik, Universität Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
  • 2Department Physik, Universität Siegen, 57072 Siegen, Germany
  • 3Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh 208016, India
  • 4Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Notkestrasse 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany
  • 5European X-ray Free-Electron Laser GmbH, Holzkoppel 4, 22869 Schenefeld, Germany

  • *nafisa.begam@uni-tuebingen.de
  • fajun.zhang@uni-tuebingen.de
  • christian.gutt@uni-siegen.de
  • §frank.schreiber@uni-tuebingen.de

Article Text (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand

Supplemental Material (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand

References (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand
Issue

Vol. 126, Iss. 9 — 5 March 2021

Reuse & Permissions
Access Options
Author publication services for translation and copyediting assistance advertisement

Authorization Required


×
×

Images

×

Sign up to receive regular email alerts from Physical Review Letters

Log In

Cancel
×

Search


Article Lookup

Paste a citation or DOI

Enter a citation
×