Rapid Assessment of the Stability of Colloids & Dispersions

*EDIT* Please note that in February 2022 Microtrac MRB, represented in the UK by Verder Scientific UK Ltd.,  announced that it had acquired the Stabino II – previously developed and owned by Colloid Metrix. Find out more.

The Stabino® II from Colloid Metrix is a fast and easy-to-operate zeta potential instrument for analysing and optimising the stability of colloids and dispersions, based on measurement of streaming potential.

Determining the stability of colloids or dispersions is a critical factor in quality assurance or development and formulation of new products. Many analytical systems for determining stability are based on electrophoresis techniques that rely on a limited number of low-resolution measurements of the zeta potential. These systems can be slow and imprecise leading to an inconclusive analysis of the colloid / dispersion stability and incorrectly formulated products.

Based upon rapid pH and polyelectrolyte titrations, the Stabino® II is able to provide very fast, precise and reproducible measurement of the surface charge of particles in the range of 0.3 nm to 300 µm in just minutes. With each measuring point, the Stabino® II provides valuable information about the conductivity, zeta potential, streaming potential, temperature and pH of your sample. Benefiting from a unique oscillating piston design the Stabino® II provides continuous sample mixing avoiding sedimentation of samples (0.3 nm to 300 µm) – often a problem when a titration approaches the iso-electric point.

The non-optical measuring principle of the Stabino II enables the assessment of stability of colloids and dispersions at their original concentration (up to 40% by volume). Due to the additional titration capability, stability ranges and aging processes can be detected very quickly. The influence of the individual titration additions on the stability can also be determined and optimized during formulation and shortens the development time. The determination of the isoelectric point and the charge titration are important features in the quality control of products or starting materials and help to select suitable starting materials.

Intuitive, easy-to-use software on the Stabino® II makes setting up a measurement extremely quick and easy. Just pour in 1 – 10 mL sample into the Teflon beaker of the Stabino® II, open the software and start the measurement. Using Stabino® II software, your entire titration can be tracked in real time, with each titrated droplet a zeta potential measuring point is generated on the graph that includes all 5 measurement parameters.

Applications that can benefit from the unique measurement capabilities of the Stabino® II include the printing industry, pigments, ceramics, pharmaceutical formulation, brewing, beverages, coatings and material science.

For further information on Stabino® II please visit:

https://analytik.co.uk/stabino-zeta-potential-analyser-for-optimising-colloids-and-dispersions/