Demonstration - Continuous hydrodynamic particle size from the nano to the micro-scale : Capillary dynamic light scattering

Dynamic light scattering (DLS) is a ubiquitous tool for the characterization of hydrodynamic particle size in dispersion, relying on diffusive-only sample motion and exquisite thermal control of the sample viscosity. We demonstrate that the commonly assumed upper size limit for DLS due to gravitational settling should be significantly higher than previous experiments indicate and it is by the suppression of sample convective motion in a simple, disposable, optical quality, glass capillary that greater than an order of magnitude increase in the upper particle size range, well into the micron-scale, is enabled, in a two order of magnitude reduction in sample volume over a standard 10.0 mm cuvette, without altering the dispersion.