  Aqueous dispersion of Laponite, when exposed to carbon dioxide environment
leads to in situ inducement of magnesium and lithium ions, which is, however
absent when dispersion is exposed to air. Consequently, in the rheological
experiments, Laponite dispersion preserved under carbon dioxide shows more
spectacular enhancement in the elastic and viscous moduli as a function of time
compared to that exposed to air. By measuring concentration of all the ions
present in a dispersion as well as change in pH, the evolving inter-particle
interactions among the Laponite particles is estimated. DLVO analysis of a
limiting case is performed, wherein two particles approach each other in a
parallel fashion a situation with maximum repulsive interactions. Interestingly
it is observed that DLVO analysis explains the qualitative details of an
evolution of elastic and viscous moduli remarkably well thereby successfully
relating the macroscopic phenomena to the microscopic interactions.
