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Title: Mechanical Properties of Solidifying Assemblies of Nanoparticle Surfactants at the Oil–Water Interface

Abstract

The effect of polymer surfactant structure and concentration on the self-assembly, mechanical properties, and solidification of nanoparticle surfactants (NPSs) at the oil-water interface was studied. The surface tension of the oil-water interface was found to depend strongly on the choice of the polymer surfactant used to assemble the NPSs, with polymer surfactants bearing multiple polar groups being the most effective at reducing interfacial tension and driving the NPS assembly. By contrast, only small variations in the shear modulus of the system were observed, suggesting that it is determined largely by particle density. In the presence of polymer surfactants bearing multiple functional groups, NPS assemblies on pendant drop surfaces were observed to spontaneously solidify above a critical polymer surfactant concentration. Interfacial solidification accelerated rapidly as polymer surfactant concentration was increased. On long timescales after solidification, pendant drop interfaces were observed to spontaneously wrinkle at sufficiently low surface tensions (approximately 5 mN m-1). Interfacial shear rheology of the NPS assemblies was elastic-dominated, with the shear modulus ranging from 0.1 to 1 N m-1, comparable to values obtained for nanoparticle monolayers elsewhere. Finally, our work paves the way for the development of designer, multicomponent oil-water interfaces with well-defined mechanical, structural, and functional properties.

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1];  [2]; ORCiD logo [3];  [3];  [4];  [5]; ORCiD logo [4];  [2]; ORCiD logo [2];  [3]; ORCiD logo [6]
  1. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  2. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  3. Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
  4. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
  5. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Beijing Univ. of Chemical Technology (China)
  6. Beijing Univ. of Chemical Technology (China); Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA (United States); Tohoku Univ., Aoba (Japan); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
OSTI Identifier:
1634053
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-05CH11231
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Langmuir
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 35; Journal Issue: 41; Journal ID: ISSN 0743-7463
Publisher:
American Chemical Society
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; surface tension; interfaces; liquids; surfactants; polymers

Citation Formats

Toor, Anju, Forth, Joe, Bochner de Araujo, Simone, Merola, Maria Consiglia, Jiang, Yufeng, Liu, Xubo, Chai, Yu, Hou, Honghao, Ashby, Paul D., Fuller, Gerald G., and Russell, Thomas P. Mechanical Properties of Solidifying Assemblies of Nanoparticle Surfactants at the Oil–Water Interface. United States: N. p., 2019. Web. doi:10.1021/acs.langmuir.9b01575.
Toor, Anju, Forth, Joe, Bochner de Araujo, Simone, Merola, Maria Consiglia, Jiang, Yufeng, Liu, Xubo, Chai, Yu, Hou, Honghao, Ashby, Paul D., Fuller, Gerald G., & Russell, Thomas P. Mechanical Properties of Solidifying Assemblies of Nanoparticle Surfactants at the Oil–Water Interface. United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.9b01575
Toor, Anju, Forth, Joe, Bochner de Araujo, Simone, Merola, Maria Consiglia, Jiang, Yufeng, Liu, Xubo, Chai, Yu, Hou, Honghao, Ashby, Paul D., Fuller, Gerald G., and Russell, Thomas P. 2019. "Mechanical Properties of Solidifying Assemblies of Nanoparticle Surfactants at the Oil–Water Interface". United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.9b01575. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1634053.
@article{osti_1634053,
title = {Mechanical Properties of Solidifying Assemblies of Nanoparticle Surfactants at the Oil–Water Interface},
author = {Toor, Anju and Forth, Joe and Bochner de Araujo, Simone and Merola, Maria Consiglia and Jiang, Yufeng and Liu, Xubo and Chai, Yu and Hou, Honghao and Ashby, Paul D. and Fuller, Gerald G. and Russell, Thomas P.},
abstractNote = {The effect of polymer surfactant structure and concentration on the self-assembly, mechanical properties, and solidification of nanoparticle surfactants (NPSs) at the oil-water interface was studied. The surface tension of the oil-water interface was found to depend strongly on the choice of the polymer surfactant used to assemble the NPSs, with polymer surfactants bearing multiple polar groups being the most effective at reducing interfacial tension and driving the NPS assembly. By contrast, only small variations in the shear modulus of the system were observed, suggesting that it is determined largely by particle density. In the presence of polymer surfactants bearing multiple functional groups, NPS assemblies on pendant drop surfaces were observed to spontaneously solidify above a critical polymer surfactant concentration. Interfacial solidification accelerated rapidly as polymer surfactant concentration was increased. On long timescales after solidification, pendant drop interfaces were observed to spontaneously wrinkle at sufficiently low surface tensions (approximately 5 mN m-1). Interfacial shear rheology of the NPS assemblies was elastic-dominated, with the shear modulus ranging from 0.1 to 1 N m-1, comparable to values obtained for nanoparticle monolayers elsewhere. Finally, our work paves the way for the development of designer, multicomponent oil-water interfaces with well-defined mechanical, structural, and functional properties.},
doi = {10.1021/acs.langmuir.9b01575},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1634053}, journal = {Langmuir},
issn = {0743-7463},
number = 41,
volume = 35,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Sep 19 00:00:00 EDT 2019},
month = {Thu Sep 19 00:00:00 EDT 2019}
}

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