Title: colloidal dispersion
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - colloidal dispersion
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.C01174
Status: current

Definition
A system in which particles of colloidal size of any nature (e.g. solid, liquid or gas) are dispersed in a continuous phase of a different composition (or state). The name dispersed phase for the particles should be used only if they have essentially the properties of a bulk phase of the same composition.

Related Term
- colloidal: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/C01172

Source
- PAC, 1972, 31, 577. 'Manual of Symbols and Terminology for Physicochemical Quantities and Units, Appendix II: Definitions, Terminology and Symbols in Colloid and Surface Chemistry' on page 605 (https://doi.org/10.1351/pac197231040577)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/C01174/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/C01174/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/C01174/xml

Citation: Citation: 'colloidal dispersion' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.C01174
License: The IUPAC Gold Book is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) for individual terms.
Collection: If you are interested in licensing the Gold Book for commercial use, please contact the IUPAC Executive Director at executivedirector@iupac.org .
Disclaimer: The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using.
Accessed: 2026-05-09T23:34:32+00:00