Hello, I am somewhat new to dynamic light scattering. I am working with a heterogeneous mixture of carbon based particles synthesized at various hydrogen peroxide concentrations. It's worth noting that hydrogen peroxide is no longer present in the solution at the time of testing, water is the solvent. Also, all results were checked to make sure they fell under the parameters of a reliable result by the instrument.
I am trying to relate what I am seeing in the graph provided to dynamic light scattering to determine at least some possibilities that gave me this result. My current thinking is that there is some interparticle interaction taking place during the scan, resulting in the formation of larger particles that are still growing at the end of the run time, producing these fraction of sized distributions seen in the graph attached. I'm looking for literature you believe would helpful or details this occurring (or what you think is occurring) and any similar experiences you are willing to share. I sincerely appreciate any time you can give to this issue.
Hi Bethany,
If your volume weighted distribution is correct, then you have a huge presence of very large material, meaning that DLS is likely not the best method to characterise your sample.
The volume weighted distribution is generated using the material properties of the sample. My first point of call would be to look at the intensity weighted distribution as this is the primary result from the DLS measurement.
As indicated by Alex, the intensity particle size distribution may be best to consider first. Most likely, these are remnant of air bubbles. The distributions are normalized such, that the area under the distribution is 100%. The x-axis on the distribution is also "cut off" at a certain upper limit, and this can lead to the observed "open" peak. The effect is amplified in the volume distribution. The main reason, however, appears to be that your samples may contain actual components with sizes beyond the typical DLS size range.
http://www.materials-talks.com/blog/2014/07/10/faq-peak-size-or-z-average-size-which-one-to-pick-in-dls/
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