Adsorption and Crystallization of Particles at the Air-Water Interface Induced by Minute Amounts of Surfactant

Controlling the organization of particles at liquid-gas interfaces usually relies on multiphasic preparations and external applied forces. Here, we show that micromolar amounts of a conventional cationic surfactant induce, in a single step, both adsorption and crystallization of various types of nan...

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Veröffentlicht in:Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids. - 1992. - 34(2018), 50 vom: 18. Dez., Seite 15526-15536
1. Verfasser: Anyfantakis, Manos (VerfasserIn)
Weitere Verfasser: Vialetto, Jacopo, Best, Andreas, Auernhammer, Günter K, Butt, Hans-Jürgen, Binks, Bernard P, Baigl, Damien
Format: Online-Aufsatz
Sprache:English
Veröffentlicht: 2018
Zugriff auf das übergeordnete Werk:Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids
Schlagworte:Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:Controlling the organization of particles at liquid-gas interfaces usually relies on multiphasic preparations and external applied forces. Here, we show that micromolar amounts of a conventional cationic surfactant induce, in a single step, both adsorption and crystallization of various types of nanometer- to micrometer-sized anionic particles at the air-water interface, without any additional phase involved or external forces other than gravity. Contrary to conventional surfactant-induced particle adsorption through neutralization and hydrophobization at a surfactant concentration close to the critical micellar concentration (CMC), we show that in our explored concentration regime (CMC/1000-CMC/100), particles adsorb with a low contact angle and maintain most of their charge, leading to the formation of two-dimensional assemblies with different structures, depending on surfactant ( Cs) and particle ( Cp) concentrations. At low Cs and Cp, particles are repulsive and form disordered assemblies. Increasing Cp in this regime increases the number of adsorbed particles, leading to the formation of mm-sized, highly ordered polycrystalline assemblies because of the long-range attraction mediated by the collective deformation of the interface. Increasing Cs decreases the particle repulsion and therefore the interparticle distance within the monocrystalline domains. A further increase in Cs (≈CMC/10) leads to a progressive neutralization of particles accompanied by the formation of disordered structures, ranging from densely packed amorphous ones to loosely packed gels. These results emphasize a new role of the surfactant to mediate both adsorption and crystallization of particles at liquid-gas interfaces and provide a practical manner to prepare two-dimensional ordered colloidal assemblies in a remarkably robust and convenient manner
Beschreibung:Date Completed 06.02.2019
Date Revised 15.02.2019
published: Print-Electronic
Citation Status PubMed-not-MEDLINE
ISSN:1520-5827
DOI:10.1021/acs.langmuir.8b03233