# Colloidal Motion under the Action of a Thermophoretic Force

## TL;DR

This study measures thermophoretic motion of polystyrene colloids with different surface properties, revealing complex dependencies on surface charge and a model for relaxation dynamics, advancing understanding of colloidal thermophoresis.

## Contribution

It introduces a novel measurement technique for colloidal thermophoresis and uncovers the influence of surface functionality on the Soret coefficient.

## Key findings

- Weakly charged colloids show stronger thermophoretic effects.
- Surface functionality affects the Soret coefficient more than predicted.
- Relaxation speed increases with thermophoretic force magnitude.

## Abstract

We present thermophoretic measurements in aqueous suspensions of three different polystyrene (PS) particles of varying negative charge, size and surface coating. Our measurement technique is based on the observation of the colloidal steady-state distribution using conventional bright-field microscopy, which avoids undesirable effects such as laser-induced convection or local heating. We find that the colloids with the weakest zeta potential exhibit the strongest thermophoretic effect, suggesting that surface functionality leads to a more intricate dependence of the Soret coefficient on hydrodynamic boundary conditions than predicted by existing theoretical approaches. We also study the relaxation of the colloids to steady-state and propose a model to quantify the relaxation speed, based on the time evolution of the colloidal center of mass. Our observations are well described by this model and show that the relaxation speed tends to increase with the magnitude of the thermophoretic force.