Issue 33, 2006

Understanding the self-assembly of charged nanoparticles at the water/oil interface

Abstract

We present a thermodynamic evaluation of the self-assembly of charged nanometer-sized particles at the water/oil interface. The chemical potentials of the nanoparticles in the bulk (aqueous) phase and at the water/oil interface are calculated taking into account interfacial energies, van der Waals interactions, and electrostatic repulsions. An isotherm of the interfacial particle density as a function of the surface charge density on the particles is obtained and compared with experimental results on gold and CdTe nanoparticles self-assembled at the water/heptane interface. Our model provides a semi-quantitative explanation for the spontaneous self-assembly of several types of metallic and semiconducting charged nanoparticles upon reduction of their surface charge.

Graphical abstract: Understanding the self-assembly of charged nanoparticles at the water/oil interface

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
28 Mar 2006
Accepted
07 Jun 2006
First published
19 Jun 2006

Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2006,8, 3828-3835

Understanding the self-assembly of charged nanoparticles at the water/oil interface

F. Reincke, W. K. Kegel, H. Zhang, M. Nolte, D. Wang, D. Vanmaekelbergh and H. Möhwald, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2006, 8, 3828 DOI: 10.1039/B604535A

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