Publication

# Nanoscale Critical Phenomena in a Complex Fluid Studied by X

### Authors

Sheyfer, D.; Zhang, Q.; Lal, J.; Loeffler, T.; Dufresne, E.; Sandy, A.; Narayanan, S.; Sankaranarayanan, S.K.R.S.; Szczygiel, R.; Maj, P.; Soderholm, L.; Antonio, M.; Stephenson, G.

### Abstract

The advent of high-speed x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy now allows the study of critical phenomena in fluids to much smaller length scales and over a wider range of temperatures than is possible with dynamic light scattering. We present an x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy study of critical fluctuation dynamics in a complex fluid typical of those used in liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) of ions,dodecane-DMDBTDMA with extracted aqueous CeðNO3Þ3. We observe good agreement with both staticand dynamic scaling without the need for significant noncritical background corrections. Critical exponents agree with 3D Ising values, and the fluctuation dynamics are described by simple exponential relaxation.The form of the dynamic master curve deviates somewhat from the Kawasaki result, with a more abrupt transition between the critical and noncritical asymptotic behavior. The concepts of critical phenomena thus provide a quantitative framework for understanding the structure and dynamics of LLE systems and a path forward to new LLE processes.

MSD

2020

Article