The Structuring of Nonadsorbed Nanoparticles and Polyelectrolyte Chains in the Gap between a Colloidal Particle and Plate

Thickness of the particle-free layer near charged interfaces in suspensions of like-charged nanoparticles

When a suspension of charged nanoparticles is in contact with a like-charged water-solid interface, next to this interface a particle-free layer is formed. The present study provides reliable measurements of the thickness of this particle-free layer with three different techniques, namely optical reflectivity, quartz crystal microbalance (QCM), and direct force measurements with atomic force microscopy (AFM). Suspensions of negatively charged nanoparticles of different size and type are investigated. When the measured layer thickness is normalized to the particle size, one finds that this normalized thickness shows universal inverse square root dependence on the particle volume fraction. This universal dependence can be also derived from Poisson-Boltzmann theory for highly asymmetric electrolytes, whereby one has to assume that the nanoparticles represent the multivalent coions.

Structural and Double Layer Forces between Silica Surfaces in Suspensions of Negatively Charged Nanoparticles

Direct force measurements between negatively charged silica microparticles are carried out in suspensions of like-charged nanoparticles with atomic force microscopy (AFM). In agreement with previous studies, oscillatory force profiles are observed at larger separation distances. At smaller distances, however, soft and strongly repulsive forces are present. These forces are caused by double layer repulsion between the like-charged surfaces and can be quantitatively interpreted with the Poisson-Boltzmann (PB) model. However, the PB model must be adapted to a strongly asymmetric electrolyte to capture the nonexponential nature of these forces. Thereby, the nanoparticles are modeled as highly charged co-ions, while the counter ions are monovalent. This model permits extraction of the effective charge of the nanoparticles, which is well comparable to the one obtained from electrophoresis. The PB model also explains the presence of a particle-free layer close to the interface.

Oscillatory structural forces between charged interfaces in solutions of oppositely charged polyelectrolytes

Forces between negatively charged micron-sized silica particles were measured in aqueous solutions of cationic polyelectrolytes with an atomic force microscope (AFM). In these oppositely charged systems, damped oscillatory force profiles were systematically observed in systems at higher polyelectrolyte concentrations, typically around few g L-1. The wavelength of these oscillations is decreasing with increasing concentration. When the wavelength and concentration are normalized with the cross-over concentration, universal power-law dependence is found. Thereby, the corresponding scaling exponent changes from 1/3 in the dilute regime to 1/2 in the semi-dilute regime. This dependence is the same as in the like-charged systems, which were described in the literature earlier. This common behavior suggests that these oscillatory forces are related to the structuring of the polyelectrolyte solutions. The reason that the oppositely charged systems behave similarly to like-charged ones is that the former systems undergo a charge reversal due to the adsorption of the polyelectrolytes to the oppositely charged surface, whereby sufficiently homogeneous adsorbed layers are being formed. The main finding of the present study is that at higher polyelectrolyte concentrations such oscillatory forces are the rule, including the oppositely charged ones.

On the Convective Self-Assembly of Colloidal Particles in Nanofluid Based on in Situ Measurements of Interaction Forces

While the currently available techniques for the self-assembly of colloidal particles show great promise owing to their simplicity and high efficiency, they are plagued by the fact that they result in colloidal crystals with defects. Here, in order to overcome this problem, we propose a strategy that uses a suspension of nanoparticles (i.e., a nanofluid) as the "solvent" for the colloidal particles. We fabricated colloidal films of microspheres using such a nanofluid suspension and performed in situ measurements of the interaction forces between the microspheres in the nanofluid. This was done in order to systematically elucidate the effects of the nanoparticle size and the thickness of the electric double layer (Debye length) on the self-assembly process. The obtained results confirm that the use of the nanofluid results in a monolayer with a higher degree of order than that in the case of films formed using pure water. Further, the optimal size of the nanoparticles is determined based on the balance between their physical size and the Debye length. We also show that the lodging of the nanoparticles between the microspheres decreases both the lubrication force and the friction force between them. Thus, in this study, we show, for the first time, that a nanofluid can be used in the self-assembly process for improving the regularity of the fabricated colloidal particle arrays, as it inhibits the aggregation of the particles and limits the lubrication and friction forces between them.

Externally Triggered Oscillatory Structural Forces

This paper addresses triggering of oscillatory structural forces via temperature variation across an aqueous dispersion of thermoresponsive poly( N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) nanogels confined between silica surfaces. Oscillatory structural forces are a well-known phenomenon in colloidal science, caused by interactions between molecules or colloids. Modulation of these forces usually requires changing the internal parameters of the dispersion, such as ionic strength, particle concentration, and surface charge, or changing the properties of the confining walls, such as surface roughness, potential, or elasticity. All of these parameters are usually fixed and can only be changed via exchange of the sample or the complete experimental setup. Here, a new approach is presented, combining the characteristics of smart materials with the properties of nanoparticles, using negatively charged PNIPAM nanogels. Aqueous dispersions of these nanogels express no oscillatory structural forces in the initial state (20 °C), below the volume phase transition temperature (32 °C). Heating (60 °C) reduces the nanogel size and leads to a more negative ζ-potential, which triggers the onset of oscillatory structural forces.

Experimental evaluation of additional short ranged repulsion in structural oscillation forces

The paper addresses additional short ranged repulsion in structural oscillation forces between silica surfaces across a suspension of silica nanoparticles. Fit and prediction of the structural oscillation forces usually involve an exponentially decreasing harmonic as introduced by Israelachvili [Israelachvili, Intermolecular & surface forces, Academic Press, San Diego, USA, 1985]. Recently we demonstrated, for aqueous suspensions of silica nanoparticles at various concentrations, that this fit equation is insufficient to describe the structural oscillation forces in its whole range [Schön et al., Beilstein J. Nanotechnol., 2018, 9, 1095-1107]. An additional force acting on short separations leads to the fit parameters scattering widely as well as being dependent on each other and the starting point of the fit. An additional repulsive term was introduced to solve these problems. The additional repulsive force has also been observed by others, in ionic liquids and polyelectrolyte solutions at high ionic strength. It was attributed to the diffusive double layer forces. The rise of the additional repulsion with increasing particle concentration seems to conflict with this interpretation. In this work, colloidal probe atomic force microscopy is used in aqueous suspensions of silica nanoparticles to investigate other contributing factors such as the increasing hydrodynamic drag in the normal direction to the confining surface with increasing particle concentration. A kinetic component to the structural oscillation forces is observed. Furthermore, sodium chloride is used to adjust the ionic strength of two different concentrated silica nanoparticle suspensions. For these systems the additional decay length is compared to the Debye length in the range from low to high ionic strength. A master curve of the additional decay length over Debye length at different ionic strengths, approach speed and particle concentration is produced. It affirms the link between the two and the connection between the additional force and the diffusive double layer forces. The increasing trend for the additional repulsion with increasing particle concentration reveals a synergistic effect of diffusive double layer forces and structural oscillation forces at low to medium ionic strength, which cannot be observed at high ionic strength.

A simple extension of the commonly used fitting equation for oscillatory structural forces in case of silica nanoparticle suspensions

Background: The ordering of molecules or particles in the vicinity of a confining surface leads to the formation of an interfacial region with layers of decreasing order normal to the confining surfaces. The overlap of two interfacial regions gives rise to the well-known phenomenon of oscillatory structural forces. These forces are commonly fitted with an exponentially decaying harmonic oscillation as introduced by Israelachvili (Israelachvili, J. N. Intermolecular & surface forces; Academic Press: San Diego, CA, USA, 1985). From the fit three important parameters are obtained, namely wavelength, amplitude and decay length, which are related to the period, the strength and the correlation length of the oscillatory structural forces, respectively. The paper addresses structural forces between a silica microsphere and a silicon wafer across silica nanoparticle suspensions measured with a colloidal probe AFM. Using the simple fitting procedure with three parameters often leads to underestimation of actually measured forces. The deviation of the fit from the experimental data is especially pronounced at small distances of the confining surfaces and at high concentrations of silica nanoparticles. As a consequence, the parameters of the common fit equation vary with the starting point of the fit. Although the wavelength is least affected and seems to be quite robust against the starting point of the fit, all three parameters show distinct oscillations, with a period similar to the wavelength of the oscillatory structural forces themselves. The oscillations of amplitude and decay length, which are of much higher magnitude, show a phase shift of 180° implying not only a dependence on the starting point of the fit but also on each other. The range affected by this systematic deviation of the fit parameters is much larger than the optically perceived mismatch between fit and experimental data, giving a false impression of robustness of the fit. Results: By introducing an additional term of exponentially decaying nature the data can be fitted accurately down to very small separations and even for high silica nanoparticle concentrations (10 wt %). Furthermore wavelength, amplitude and decay length become independent of the starting point of the fit and in case of the latter two of each other. The larger forces at small separations indicate a more pronounced ordering behavior of the particles in the final two layers before the wall. This behavior is described by the proposed extension of the common fit equation. Conclusion: Thus, the extension increases the accessible data range in terms of separation and concentration and strongly increases the accuracy for all fitting parameters in the system studied here.

Depletion and double layer forces acting between charged particles in solutions of like-charged polyelectrolytes and monovalent salts

Interaction forces between silica particles were measured in aqueous solutions of the sodium salt of poly(styrene sulphonate) (PSS) and NaCl using the colloidal probe technique based on an atomic force microscope (AFM). The observed forces can be rationalized through a superposition of damped oscillatory forces and double layer forces quantitatively. The double layer forces are modeled using Poisson-Boltzmann (PB) theory for a mixture of a monovalent symmetric electrolyte and a highly asymmetric electrolyte, whereby the multivalent coions represent the polyelectrolyte chains. The effective charge of the polyelectrolyte is found to be smaller than the bare number of charged groups residing on one polyelectrolyte molecule. This effect can be explained by counterion condensation. The interplay between depletion and double layer forces can be further used to predict the phase of the depletion force oscillations. However, this picture holds only at not too elevated concentrations of the polyelectrolyte and salt. At higher salt concentrations, attractive van der Waals forces become important, while at higher polyelectrolyte concentrations, the macromolecules adsorb onto the like-charged silica interface.

Stabilization of colloidal suspensions: competing effects of nanoparticle halos and depletion mechanism

Bimodal colloidal mixtures of nanoparticles and microparticles may show different phase behaviors depending upon the interparticle interaction of both species. In the present work, we examined the stabilization of spherical microparticles using highly charged, spherical nanoparticles. Total internal reflection microscopy (TIRM) was used to measure the interaction forces between a charged microparticle and flat glass substrate in aqueous solutions at varying volume fractions of nanoparticles of the same sign. We found that, in the system containing of highly charged nanoparticles, microparticle, and glass substrate, non-adsorbing charged nanoparticles in solution did not lead to depletion attraction. Instead, the addition of nanoparticles was to consistently create a repulsive force between the microparticle and glass substrate even at a very low nanoparticle volume fraction. This result might attributed to the formation of thin shells (halos) with a high local nanoparticle volume fraction to the region near the glass surface, resulting in electrostatic repulsion between the decorated surfaces. This study demonstrates that nanoparticle halos can also arise in binary systems of mutually but highly repulsive microparticle/nanoparticle dispersions.

Determination of the aggregation number and charge of ionic surfactant micelles from the stepwise thinning of foam films

The stepwise thinning (stratification) of liquid films, which contain micelles of an ionic surfactant, depends on the micelle aggregation number, N(agg), and charge, Z. Vice versa, from the height of the step and the final film thickness one can determine N(agg), Z, and the degree of micelle ionization. The determination of N(agg) is based on the experimental fact that the step height is equal to the inverse cubic root of the micelle concentration. In addition, Z is determined from the final thickness of the film, which depends on the concentration of counterions dissociated from the micelles in the bulk. The method is applied to micellar solutions of six surfactants, both anionic and cationic: sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS), cetyl trimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC), sodium laurylethersulfates with 1 and 3 ethylene oxide groups (SLES-1EO and SLES-3EO), and potassium myristate. The method has the following advantages: (i) N(agg) and Z are determined simultaneously, from the same set of experimental data; (ii) N(agg) and Z are determined for each given surfactant concentration (i.e. their concentration dependence is obtained), and (iii) N(agg) and Z can be determined even for turbid solutions, like those of carboxylates, where the micelles coexist with acid-soap crystallites, so that the application of other methods is difficult. The results indicate that the micelles of greater aggregation number have a lower degree of ionization, which can be explained with the effect of counterion binding. The proposed method is applicable to the concentration range, in which the films stratify and the micelles are spherical. This is satisfied for numerous systems representing scientific and practical interest.

Nanofluids mediating surface forces

Fluids containing nanostructures, known as nanofluids, are increasingly found in a wide array of applications due to their unique physical properties as compared with their base fluids and larger colloidal suspensions. With several tuneable parameters such as the size, shape and surface chemistry of nanostructures, as well as numerous base fluids available, nanofluids also offer a new paradigm for mediating surface forces. Other properties such as local surface plasmon resonance and size dependent magnetism of nanostructures also present novel mechanisms for imparting tuneable surface interactions. However, our fundamental understanding, experimentally and theoretically, of how these parameters might affect surface forces remains incomplete. Here we review recent results on equilibrium and dynamic surface forces between macroscopic surfaces in nanofluids, highlighting the overriding trends in the correlation between the physical parameters that characterise nanofluids and the surface forces they mediate. We also discuss the challenges that confront existing surface force knowledge as a result of this new paradigm.

Oscillatory forces of nanoparticle suspensions confined between rough surfaces modified with polyelectrolytes via the layer-by-layer technique

This paper addresses the systematic study of surface roughness effects on the internal structuring of silica nanoparticle suspensions under confinement. The confining surfaces are modified by physisorption of layers of oppositely charged polyelectrolytes with the so-called layer-by-layer technique. The layer-by-layer technique modifies the surface roughness without changing the surface potential of a multilayer with the same outermost layer, by increasing the number of constituent layers and ionic strength of the polyelectrolyte solutions and by selecting an appropriate pair of polyelectrolytes. The oscillatory forces of nanoparticle suspensions with a particle diameter of 26 nm are measured by a colloidal-probe atomic force microscope (CP-AFM). The characteristic lengths of the oscillatory force, i.e., wavelength, which indicates interparticle distance, and decay length, or particle correlation length, are not affected by the surface roughness. The corresponding reduction in the oscillatory amplitude and the shift in the phase correlate with an increase in surface roughness. Increasing surface roughness further induces a disappearance of the oscillations, and both confining surfaces contribute to the effect of surface roughness on the force reduction. In order to show an oscillatory force, the particles have to show positional correlation over a reasonably long range perpendicular to the surface, and the correlation function should be the same over a larger lateral area. This requires that both the particles and the surfaces have a high degree of order or symmetry; otherwise, the oscillation does not occur. A roughness of a few nanometers on a single surface, which corresponds to about 10% of the nanoparticle diameter, is sufficient to eliminate the oscillatory force.

Hydrodynamic force on a microparticle approaching a wall in a nanoparticle dispersion: observation of a separation-dependent effective viscosity

Colloid probe atomic force microscopy was used to measure the hydrodynamic force exerted on a 30-μm-diameter silica particle being moved toward or away from a silica plate in aqueous dispersions of 22-nm-diameter silica nanoparticles (6 or 8 vol %). Upon comparing the measured force to predictions made using the well-known expression of Cox and Brenner (Cox, R. G.; Brenner, H. Chem. Eng. Sci.1967, 22, 1753-1777) assuming a constant viscosity equal to that of the bulk dispersion, the measured drag force was found to become significantly less than that predicted at smaller particle-plate separation distances (e.g., <500 nm). A recent theoretical paper by Bhattacharya and Blawzdziewicz (Bhattacharya, S.; Blawzdziewicz, J. J. Chem. Phys.2008, 128, 214704) predicted that in a solution of dispersed nanoparticles the effective viscosity characterizing the hydrodynamic force on the particle should vary from that of the solvent at contact to that of the bulk dispersion at large separations. By adjusting the viscosity in the Cox and Brenner expression to make the predicted hydrodynamic force match that measured (i.e., the effective viscosity), a curve showing these exact characteristics was obtained. The effective viscosity profile was not a function of particle speed, and changes in the effective viscosity extended to separation distances of as large as 2 μm (nearly 100 times the hard diameter of the nanoparticles). These results suggest that in the range of typical colloidal forces (on the order of 100 nm), the dynamics of particle motion in such systems are determined by the viscosity of the solvent and not that of the bulk dispersion.

The metastable states of foam films containing electrically charged micelles or particles: experiment and quantitative interpretation

The stepwise thinning (stratification) of liquid films containing electrically charged colloidal particles (in our case - surfactant micelles) is investigated. Most of the results are applicable also to films from nanoparticle suspensions. The aim is to achieve agreement between theory and experiment, and to better understand the physical reasons for this phenomenon. To test different theoretical approaches, we obtained experimental data for free foam films from micellar solutions of three ionic surfactants. The theoretical problem is reduced to the interpretation of the experimental concentration dependencies of the step height and of the final film thickness. The surface charges of films and micelles are calculated by means of the charge-regulation model, with a counterion-binding (Stern) constant determined from the fit of surface tension isotherms. The applicability of three models was tested: the Poisson-Boltzmann (PB) model; the jellium-approximation (JA), and the cell model (CM). The best agreement theory/experiment was obtained with the JA model without using any adjustable parameters. Two theoretical approaches are considered. First, in the energy approach the step height is identified with the effective diameter of the charged micelles, which represents an integral of the electrostatic-repulsion energy calculated by the JA model. Second, in the osmotic approach the step height is equal to the inverse cubic root of micelle number density in the bulk of solution. Both approaches are in good agreement with the experiment if the suspension of charged particles (micelles) represents a jellium, i.e. if the particle concentration is uniform despite the field of the electric double layers. The results lead to a convenient method for determining the aggregation number of ionic surfactant micelles from the experimental heights of the steps.

Confinement of linear polymers, surfactants, and particles between interfaces

The review addresses the effect of geometrical confinement on the structure formation of colloidal dispersions like particle suspensions, (non)micellar surfactant solutions, polyelectrolyte solutions and mixed dispersions. The dispersions are entrapped either between two fluid interfaces (foam film) in a Thin Film Pressure Balance (TFPB) or between two solid interfaces in a Colloidal Probe Atomic Force Microscope (Colloidal Probe AFM) or a Surface Force Apparatus (SFA). The oscillating concentration profile in front of the surface leads to an oscillating force during film thinning. It is shown that the characteristic lengths like the distance between particles, the distance between micelles, or the mesh size of the polymer network remain the same during the confining process. The influence of different parameters like ionic strength, molecular structure, and the properties of the outer surfaces on the structure formation are reported. The confinement of mixed dispersions might lead to phase separation and capillary condensation, which in turn causes a pronounced attraction between the two opposing film surfaces.

Oscillatory structural forces due to nonionic surfactant micelles: data by colloidal-probe AFM vs theory

Micellar solutions of nonionic surfactants Brij 35 and Tween 20 are confined between two surfaces in a colloidal-probe atomic-force microscope (CP-AFM). The experimentally detected oscillatory forces due to the layer-by-layer expulsion of the micelles agree very well with the theoretical predictions for hard-sphere fluids. While the experiment gives parts of the stable branches of the force curve, the theoretical model allows reconstruction of the full oscillatory curve. Therewith, the strength and range of the ordering could be determined. The resulting aggregation number from the fits of the force curves for Brij 35 is close to 70 and exhibits a slight tendency to increase with the surfactant concentration. The last layer of micelles cannot be pressed out. The measured force-vs-distance curve has nonequilibrium portions, which represent "jumps" from one to another branch of the respective equilibrium oscillatory curve. In the case of Brij 35, at concentrations <150 mM spherical micelles are present and the oscillation period is close to the micelle diameter, slightly decreasing with the rise of concentration. For elongated micelles (at concentration 200 mM), no harmonic oscillations are observed anymore; instead, the period increases with the decrease of film thickness. In the case of Tween 20, the force oscillations are almost suppressed, which implies that the micelles of this surfactant are labile and are demolished by the hydrodynamic shear stresses due to the colloidal-probe motion. The comparison of the results for the two surfactants demonstrates that in some cases the micelles can be destroyed by the CP-AFM, but in other cases they can be stable and behave as rigid particles. This behavior correlates with the characteristic times of the slow micellar relaxation process for these surfactants.

Depletion attraction between a polystyrene particle and a hydrophilic surface in a pluronic aqueous solution

In practice, many colloidal suspensions also contain polymers where their presence has a major effect on the stability of colloidal particles. In this work, we use total internal reflection microscopy to directly measure the interactions between a approximately 6.0 microm polystyrene spherical particle and a hydrophilic flat surface with the presence of an triblock copolymer, poly(ethylene oxide-block-propylene oxide-block-ethylene oxide) (Pluronic PE10500), in an aqueous solution with low ionic strength. A discernible attractive force between the particle and surface is observed with the measurable range of up to approximately 100 nm. Dynamic laser light scattering study reveals that monomers, micelles, and larger nanobubbles (approximately 166 nm) coexist when PE10500 triblock copolymer is spontaneously dissolved in the low ionic strength aqueous solution. We attribute this measured long-range attractive force to the creation of a significant depletion force between the particle and surface as caused by the existence of relatively large nanobubbles free in solution. Replacement of the PE10500 copolymer solution with salt solution removes the nanobubbles, which is reflected in disappearing of the attractive force. Moreover, we find that the adsorbed PE10500 chains at both charged particle and flat surface may cause a redistribution of counterions and colons that make up the electric double layer of the surfaces, thus displacing the repulsive potential between the particle and surface.

Simple correlation-corrected theory of systems described by screened coulomb interactions

We present a simple correlation-corrected density functional treatment of dispersions containing macroions, where these are assumed to interact via screened Coulomb potentials, as given by Debye-Hückel theory. A straightforward mean-field description even fails to qualitatively capture important correlation effects displayed by such systems. However, if an effective, correlation-corrected potential is adopted at short range, then the predictions are in qualitative and semiquantitative agreement with simulated results. The correlation corrections are evaluated in a manner that is completely analogous to those recently presented in correlation-corrected Poisson-Boltzmann theory (Forsman, J. J. Phys. Chem. B 2004, 108, 9236). The accuracy of the theory is evaluated by comparison with simulation data on systems displaying correlation-generated packing effects and stratification forces.

Screening effects on structure and diffusion in confined charged colloids

Using molecular dynamics computer simulations we investigate structural and dynamic (diffusion) properties of charged colloidal suspension confined to narrow slit pores with structureless, uncharged walls. The system is modeled on an effective level involving only the macroions, which interact via a combination of a soft-sphere and a screened Coulomb potential. The aim of our study is to identify the role of the range of the macroion-macroion interaction controlled by the inverse Debye screening length, kappa. We also compare to bulk properties at the same chemical potential as determined in parallel grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations. Our results reveal a significant influence of the interaction range which competes, however, with the influence of density. At liquidlike densities a decrease of range yields a decreasing mobility (and a corresponding enhancement of local structure) in the bulk system, whereas the reverse effect occurs in narrow slits with thickness of a few particle diameter. These differences can be traced back to the confinement-induced, and kappa-dependent, reduction of overall density compared to the bulk reservoir. We also show that an increase of kappa softens the oscillations in the normal pressure as function of the wall separation, which is consistent with experimental observations concerning the influence of addition of salt.

Synergistic effects of polymers and surfactants on depletion forces

This work investigates the synergistic effects of a neutral polymer and an anionic surfactant on depletion forces as a function of bulk polymer and bulk surfactant concentration. In this work, we measure the force between a silica particle and a silica plate in aqueous solutions of the polymer and the surfactant using atomic force microscopy. The polymer is the triblock copolymer poly(ethylene oxide-block-propylene oxide-block-ethylene oxide) (Pluronic F108), and the surfactant is sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). In F108-only solutions, the force between the silica particle and the silica plate is primarily repulsive for polymer concentrations ranging from 200 to 10 000 ppm. In SDS-only solutions, the net force between the silica surfaces is repulsive at all separations for concentrations below 16 mM SDS and is attractive with a structural force character above 16 mM SDS. When both F108 and SDS are present in the solution, a net attractive force is observed at SDS concentrations as low as 4 mM, a factor of 2 below the critical micelle concentration (cmc). We attribute this synergistic effect to the complexation of F108 with SDS in bulk solution at a critical aggregation concentration (cac) that is less than the cmc, producing a relatively large, charged complex that creates a significant depletion force between the particle and plate.

Recrystallization of a 2D plasma crystal

A monolayer plasma crystal consisting of micron-sized particles levitated in the sheath of a rf discharge was melted by applying a short electric pulse to two parallel wires located at the height of the particles. Structural properties and the particle temperature were examined during the stage of recrystallization. A liquidlike phase was followed by a transient state characterized by energy release and the restoring of long range translational order while the defect fraction was low. No long range orientational order was found, though highly ordered domains formed locally. Numerical simulations revealed the same regimes of recrystallization as those observed in the experiment.

Investigation of short-time particle dynamics near an interface in the presence of nonadsorbed macro-ions

The optical technique of total internal reflection microscopy was used to study the normal Brownian motion of a single colloidal particle near an interface. The measurements were made using a recently developed technique in which the diffusion coefficient was determined by the variance of the short-time (Deltat --> 0) motion of the particle. Experiments were performed in solutions containing either silica nanospheres or clay platelets (Laponite RD) to investigate the effect of nonadsorbed material on the dynamics of near-contact particle motion. The change in the diffusion coefficient with separation distance between the particle and plate in solutions containing nonadsorbed macro-ions was well-described by the theory developed for simple fluids. These results suggest that, in dilute solutions of nonadsorbed material in which the bulk rheological properties remain similar to those of the pure fluid, the mobility and diffusion coefficient correction factors developed for simple fluids remain valid.

ESI-TEM imaging of surfactants and ions sorbed in Stöber silica nanoparticles

The sorption of surfactants and NaCl in silica nanosized particles creates unexpected spatial distributions of solutes that were evidenced by electron spectroscopy imaging in the transmission electron microscope (ESI/TEM). The spectral images show that simple ions (Na(+), Cl(-), Br(-)) are actually absorbed within the particles irrespective of their charges, while surfactant chains are adsorbed at the particle surfaces. The expected effect of the surfactants on particle aggregation is also observed in the micrographs. In the case of salt, close-packed silica particle arrays are formed at low ionic strength, but only coarse aggregates form at higher salt concentrations. The particles absorb both Na(+) and Cl(-) ions in similar amounts, from 0.5 mol L(-)(1) NaCl, but Na(+) ions are depleted from the particles' immediate outer vicinity, where Cl(-) ions are in turn accumulated. These results confirm that Stöber silica nanoparticles are highly porous and reveal their potential usefulness as carriers of small molecules and ions, due to the small particle size, exceptional colloidal stability, and this newly found sorption behavior.

Structuring of macroions confined between like-charged surfaces

We investigate the structuring of charged spherical nanoparticles and micelles (i.e., "macroions") between two surfaces as a function of bulk macroion concentration. Structuring is deduced from measured force profiles between a silica particle and a silica plate in the presence of an aqueous macroion (Ludox silica nanoparticle or sodium dodecyl sulfate micelle) solution, obtained with an atomic force microscope. We observe oscillatory force profiles that decay with separation. We find that the wavelength of the force profiles scales with the bulk number density as rho(-)(1/3), rather than with the effective macroion size. Only at very high silica nanoparticle concentration (above 10 vol %) in a low ionic strength solution does the wavelength become smaller than that predicted by the simple rho(-)(1/3) scaling; however, the original scaling is recovered upon the addition of a small amount of electrolyte. A comparison between the measured wavelength and the predicted spacing between the macroions in the bulk shows that the two variables differ in both magnitude and bulk density scaling. This finding suggests that confined macroions are more ordered than those in the bulk and the nature of this ordering is maintained over a relatively wide range of bulk concentration.

Direct comparison of atomic force microscopic and total internal reflection microscopic measurements in the presence of nonadsorbing polyelectrolytes

We have investigated the structural and depletion forces between silica glass surfaces in aqueous, salt-free solutions of sodium poly(styrene sulfonate). The interaction forces were investigated by two techniques: total internal reflectance microscopy (TIRM) and colloid probe atomic force microscopy (AFM). The TIRM technique measures the potential energy of interaction directly, while the AFM is a force balance. Comparison between the data sets was used to independently calibrate the AFM data since the separation distances cannot be unequivocally determined by this technique. Oscillatory structural forces are excellent for this work since they give multiple reference points against which to analyze. Comparison of the data from the two techniques highlighted significant uncertainties in the AFM data. At low polymer concentrations, a significant uncertainty in the apparent zero separation distance was seen as a result of the AFM cantilever reaching an apparent constant compliance region prior to any real contact between the surfaces. Further complications arising from the number and position of the measured minima were also seen in the dilute polymer concentration regime as a result of hydrodynamic drainage between the approaching surfaces in the AFM perturbing the delicate structural components in the fluid.