Abstract
Several types of fumed-silica aggregates with differing surface areas were studied over a wide range of spatial resolution by employing both light and neutron scattering. At intermediate length scales, between 100 and 1000 Å, the aggregates are mass fractals with ≊1.7–2.0, in basic agreement with simulations of aggregating clusters. At short length scales below 100 Å where the nature of the surfaces of the primary particles dominates the scattering, some of the samples appear to be fractally rough. In particular, a higher surface area seems to be correlated not with smaller primary particles in the aggregates, as previously assumed, but with fractally rough surfaces having as high as 2.5. These may be the first materials discovered to have both mass and surface fractal structure.
- Received 14 October 1986
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.35.2361
©1987 American Physical Society