Abstract

The sign of the Soret coefficient S T of a large set of ionic magnetic colloids ) and surfacted magnetic colloids ) is determined using forced Rayleigh scattering and the single-beam Z -scan techniques. Different samples were investigated: acid and alkaline colloids with different values of pH; colloids with different concentrations of magnetic grains; colloids with grains of different typical diameters; colloids with magnetic grains with different coating natures; colloids with different non-polar and polar liquid carriers. Our results indicate that the sign of S T depends on the sign of the surface charge of grains in IFFs. In the case of water-based SFFs, the thermodiffusive behaviour is opposite to that of IFFs; that is, grains coated with a cationic surfactant behave like negatively charged IFF grains and grains coated with an anionic surfactant behave like positively charged IFF grains. SFFs with grains coated with non-ionic surfactants dispersed in non-polar fluid carriers behave like SFFs with grains coated with a cationic surfactant. The nature of the liquid carrier itself is not the only determinant factor, except apparently in the case of non-polar fluids, where only S T > 0 is found. These results cannot be explained with the available theories and it is highly probable that different mechanisms are present in the thermodiffusive behaviour of these complex fluids