Dipole interaction during agglomeration of aerosol particles

Irregular aerosol agglomerates of small primary particles are formed in different natural and industrial processes. These agglomerates have mass fractal-like structure, i.e., the mass M of the agglomerate is related with the agglomerate radius R and sub-unit size a. Some experimental contributions report on too small values of the mass fractal dimension Df for soot [1-3], silica [4], titania [5]. Long range attractive interactions between colliding particles or agglomerates have been assumed to explain these small values of De [4, 6, 7]. Here we report the direct observation of dipolar interaction between coagulating agglomerates of hydrogenated silicon. We found the occurring of a mechanism of dipole agglomerate formation by primary particles that differ for their chemical nature. We give the explanation of this phenomenon basing on the electronic strucntre of the particle material.