Voltage control of the surface of charged nanoparticles influences the order of their interfacial assembly, which can lead to different optical, magnetic, and electrical functionality. X-ray reflectivity and GISAXS measurements demonstrate that cationic gold nanoparticles penetrate further into the 1,2-dichloroethane (DCE) side of an electrified water/DCE interface as the applied voltage is increased. A similar trend is also observed in molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of a single nanoparticle at the interface. Ion-ion and ion-nanoparticle correlations and their distributions are studied using an atomistic model.  We found that there is a strong correlation between the charged nanoparticle and supporting electrolytes in the DCE phase. Results from different simulation systems will be compared to address the effect of the field, counter-ions, and electrolyte concentration.  These studies address the question of which interactions determine the interfacial localization of charged nanoparticles. Future work will include MD simulations to illustrate the self-assembly of multiple charged nanoparticles that has been observed in experiments.

Modeling of experimentally studied charged nanoparticle at electrified liquid/liquid interface

245th National Meeting (2013)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.