Rouse dynamics of colloids bound to polymer networks

Abstract

We present experimental evidence of a transition in the short-time Brownian motion of colloids from diffusive to subdiffusive, Rouse-like. This transition is seen for particles that are bound, through physical adsorption, to transient polymer networks. The characteristic Rouse scaling of the mean square particle displacement with radical t, found in the experiments, is rationalized using an analytical bead-spring model of a large particle anchored to a set of polymer chains.