Confocal Microscopy of Colloidal Suspensions

Colloidal systems or colloids consist of microparticles or nanoparticles (solute) uniformly suspended in a liquid (solvent), also called colloidal suspensions. They can mimic and exhibit microscopic or atomic aspects of molecular and atomic systems. They have been increasingly studied because of their similarity with atomic systems. They can be microscopically observed by optical microscopes because they are large enough in size and slow in motion to be monitored; microscopic methods are very useful and powerful in research on colloidal systems. Recently, confocal laser microscopy has been known as a powerful tool to obtain information of real-space and real-time behaviors of colloidal suspensions. In particular, it is possible to exactly track individual colloids in three dimensions with confocal microscopy. In this article, we briefly discuss the usefulness of confocal microscopy in colloidal systems that are currently used as model systems to resolve important questions in materials science.