Determination of hydrodynamic diameter
The DLS experiment was carried out to analyze the hydrodynamic diameter (dH ) using the litesizer 500 (Anton Paar instrument) at room temperature. The number intensity was used for determining the dH . The time dependent fluctuation in the light intensity being scattered by the particles in the solution was measured by the instrument at a fixed angle of 175°. The dH of the particles was determined from the Stoke-Einstein equation as \(d_{H}=KT/3\pi\eta D\). Here Kdenotes the Boltzmann constant, T is the absolute temperature in K, η is the viscosity and D is the diffusion coefficient. The aliquoted samples were diluted to around 1 mg/ml using filtered Milli-Q water.