Hydrogel microrheology near the liquid-solid transition

Multiple particle tracking microrheology is used to characterize the viscoelastic properties of biomaterial and synthetic polymer gels near the liquid-solid transition. Probe particles are dispersed in the get precursors, and their dynamics are measured as a function of the extent of reaction during gel formation. We interpret the dynamics using the generalized Stokes-Einstein relationship (GSER), using a form of the GSER that emphasizes the relationship between the probe particle mean-squared displacement and the material creep compliance. We show that long-standing concepts in gel bulk rheology are applicable to microrheological data, including time-cure Superposition to identify the gel point and critical scaling exponents, and the power-law behavior of incipient network's viscoelastic response. These experiments provide valuable insight into the rheology, structure, and kinetics of gelling materials, and are especially powerful for studying the weak incipient networks of dilute gelators, as well as scarce materials, due to the small sample size requirements and rapid data acquisition.