Modelling self-assembling of colloid particles in multilayered structures

Simulations of particle multilayer build-up in the layer by layer (LbL) self-assembling processes have been performed according to the generalized random sequential adsorption (RSA) scheme. The first (precursor) layer having an arbitrary coverage of adsorption centers was generated using the standard RSA scheme pertinent to homogeneous surface. Formation of the consecutive layers (up to 20) was simulated by assuming short-range interaction potentials for two kinds of particles of equal size. Interaction of two particles of different kind resulted in irreversible and localized adsorption upon their contact, whereas particles of the same kind were assumed to interact via the hard potential (no adsorption possible). Using this algorithm theoretical simulations were performed aimed at determining the particle volume fraction as a function of the distance from the interface, as well as the multilayer film roughness and thickness as a function of the number of layers. The simulations revealed that particle concentration distribution in the film was more uniform for low precursor layer density than for higher density, where well-defined layers of closely packed particles appeared. On the other hand, the roughness of the film was the lowest at the highest precursor layer density. It was also predicted theoretically that for low precursor layer density the film thickness increased with the number of layers in a non-linear way. However, for high precursor layer density, the film thickness increased linearly with the number of layers and the average layer thickness was equal to 1.58 of the particle radius, which is close to the closely packed hexagonal layer thickness equal to 1.73. It was concluded by analysing the existing data for colloid particles and polyelectrolytes that the theoretical results can be effectively exploited for interpretation of the LbL processes involving colloid particles and molecular species like polymers or proteins.     

Tensile properties and interfacial interactions of bimodal hard/soft latex blends

In this work, the effect of composition, particle size and particle size ratio on the tensile properties of well-characterized hard/soft latex blends was investigated. Four blends of hard/soft latices, with varying particle sizes (either small or large), and volume fractions of 100/0, 80/20, 60/40, 50/50, 40/60, 20/80 and 0/100 were studied. The stress at break increased and the strain at break decreased as the amount of hard particles in the blend increased. A simple model, introduced by Pukanszky for filled polymers and polymer blends, proved to be a very useful tool for evaluating the tensile properties of the latex blends. Parameter B of the model could be related to the specific surface of the dispersed hard particles and the particle size ratio. Increasing the specific surface of the dispersed hard particles resulted in an increase in parameter B. The influence of particle size ratio on parameter B was shown to depend on the formation of aggregates.     

On aggregate structures in a rod-like haematite particle suspension by means of Brownian dynamics simulations

We have investigated aggregation phenomena in a suspension composed of rod-like haematite particles by means of Brownian dynamics simulations. The magnetic moment of the haematite particles lies normal to the particle axis direction and therefore the present Brownian dynamics method takes into account the spin rotational Brownian motion about the particle axis. We have investigated the influence of the magnetic particle–field and particle–particle interactions, the shear rate and the volumetric fraction of particles on the particle aggregation phenomena. Snapshots of aggregate structures are used for a qualitative discussion and the cluster size distribution, radial distribution function and the orientational correlation functions of the direction of particle axis and magnetic moment are the focus for a quantitative discussion. The significant formation of raft-like clusters is found to occur at a magnetic particle–particle interaction strength much larger than that required for a magnetic spherical particle suspension. This is because the rotational Brownian motion has a significant influence on the formation of clusters in a suspension of rod-like particles with a large aspect ratio. An applied magnetic field enhances the formation of raft-like clusters. A shear flow does not have a significant influence on the internal structure of the clusters, but influences the cluster size distribution of the raft-like clusters.     

Sequential deposition of polydisperse particles with double layer interactions: An integral-equation theory

Adsorption of charged colloidal particles to oppositely charged surfaces is usually an irreversible process. The interaction between a pair of particles can be modeled with an exponentially decaying potential originating from double layer interactions. This work explored the effect of the Debye length on monolayer structures using the integral-equation theory which was successfully developed based on a binary-mixture approximation to include the effect of particle size polydispersity. The theoretical results from the integral equations with a Percus-Yevick closure showed that upon increasing the Debye length, the radial distribution functions, g(r), as well as the structure factor, S(k), decreased, in good agreement with simulation results. When the effect of size distributions was investigated, the prominent peak of the radial distribution function increased non-linearly with the product κσ_av, which followed the same trend as was reported for the case of the jamming coverage of the monolayer film.     

Kinetic stability of hematite nanoparticles: the effect of particle sizes

Nanoparticles are ubiquitous in environment and are potentially important in many environmental processes such as sorption, coprecipitation, redox reactions, and dissolution. To investigate particle size effects on nanoparticle aggregation and stability, this study tested aggregation behavior of 12(±2), 32(±3), and 65(±3) nm (hydrated radius) hematite particles under environmental relevant pH and ionic strength conditions. The results showed that at the same ionic strength and pH conditions, different particle sizes show different tendency to aggregate. At the same ionic strength, aggregation rates are higher for smaller particles. The critical coagulation concentration also depends on particle size, and decreases as particle size decreases. As the particle size decreases, fast aggregation shifted to lower pH. This may be related to a dependence of PZC on particle size originating from change of structure and surface energy characteristics as particle size decreases. Under the same conditions, aggregation occurs faster as particle concentration increases. Even though the nanoparticles of different sizes show different response to the same pH and ionic strength, DLVO theory can be used to qualitatively understand hematite nanoparticle aggregation behavior.     

纳米氧化锌的过饱和控制生长与大小分布控制.

"在非水介质中合成了纳米氧化锌,测定了纳米氧化锌的紫外吸收光谱,并用有效质量模型计算了粒子大小,开发并命名了一种称之为纳米粒子过饱和控制生长的技术,该技术涉及将小的纳米粒子悬浊液加入到大的粒子悬浊液中,结果因为不同大小粒子间的溶解度差异小的粒子将全部溶解,大的粒子将整体长大,大粒子悬浊液的粒子数将保持不变,大粒子的生长速度显著比Ostwald老化的高．该技术最显著的特征是只要最初两悬浊液粒子大小的差异足够大,分布不是太宽,则粒子大小的分布将会因为粒子如此长大而变窄．"     

Dilatant flow of concentrated suspensions of rough particles

The flow anisotropy of a concentrated colloidal suspension at the jamming transition is studied. It is shown that the use of rough spherical particles reduces the hydrodynamic lubrication forces between adjacent colloids and makes possible the study of the stress tensor anisotropy. At low shear rates, the suspension exerts an attractive force between two opposite surfaces, whereas at higher shear rates it becomes dilatant. Direct confocal microscopy observation of the particles organization reveal that crystallites form at high shear rate.     

Density dependent interactions and structure of charged colloidal dispersions in the weak screening regime

We determine the structure of charge-stabilized colloidal suspensions at low ionic strength over an extended range of particle volume fractions using a combination of light and small angle neutron scattering experiments. The variation of the structure factor with concentration is analyzed within a one-component model of a colloidal suspension. We show that the observed structural behavior corresponds to a nonmonotonic density dependence of the colloid effective charge and the mean interparticle interaction energy. Our findings are corroborated by similar observations from primitive model computer simulations of salt-free colloidal suspensions.     

Determination of structure parameters and size distribution of colloidal particles by means of small-angle X-ray scattering

A dilute silica suspension was used for examining the possibilities of using the small-angle X-ray scattering in the investigation of objects of colloid dimensions. The average radius of gyration, weight, volume and specific surface of the SiO₂ particles were determined. The particle size distribution curve was determined by integral transformation of the scattering curve and by adjusting the parameters of empirical functions.The authors are indebted to Professor P. W.Schmidt for kindly supplying the SiO₂ suspension.     

Sonolysis of synthetic sediment particles: particle characteristics affecting particle dissolution and size reduction

The effect of ultrasound on particle shape and surface structure was explored to understand particle characteristics affecting contaminant desorption and destruction from sediment particles. Compared to only hydrodynamic mixing, in the presence of an ultrasonic probe, operating at 20 kHz with a power density of 460 Wl-1, sonication decreased the particle size of alumina and silica particles following a first-order regime. In addition, the dissolution of particles during sonication is 7-20 times higher than that of non-sonicated solutions. However, the decrease of particle size was not totally explained by dissolution. Scanning electron microscopy studies showed that the surface of particles both became smoothed and pitted as a result of sonication. Therefore, it seems that multiple mechanisms are occurring simultaneously; microstreaming acts to smooth particle surfaces and dissolve particles and shockwaves and microjets imploding on the particle surfaces both shear and pit the surface of the particles. The sonication of humic acid laden particles resulted in a similar decreasing trend. However, the existence of humic acid increased the complexity of the system.     

Detection of the density of fine particulate matter employing laser beam divergence and inertia-dependent particle motion

We present a miniaturized sensor setup capable of determining the density of airborne particles employing size information provided by an enhanced light-scattering intensity ratio technique and inertia-dependent particle motion. The method is based on the particle density-dependent spatial particle spreading, measured as the time of flight using a divergent laser beam. Measurement results using polystyrene latex and silica particles in a size range of 500–1,600 nm show good agreement with theoretical estimations.     

Fractal Analysis of Surface Roughness of Particles in Porous Media

A fractal dimension for roughness height （RH） is introduced to characterize the degree of roughness or disorder of particle surface characters which significantly influence physical-chimerical processes in porous media. An analytical expression for the fractal dimension of RH on statistically self-similar fractal surfaces is derived and is expressed as a function of roughness parameters. The specific surface area （SSA） of porous materials with spherical particles is also derived, and the proposed fractal model for the SSA of particles with rough surfaces is expressed as a function of fractal dimension for RH and fractal dimension for particle size distribution, relative roughness of particle surface, and ratio of the minimum to the maximum particle diameters of spherical particles.     

Smartphone-Based Colorimetric Method to Quantify Iron Concentration and to Determine the Nanoparticle Size from Suspensions of Magnetic Nanoparticles

Advanced uses of smartphones are changing lifestyles, and may have a great impact in materials science in the near future. In this work, the use of these devices to develop fast, simple, and cheap methods to characterize magnetic nanoparticle suspensions is tested. A series of dilutions of a wide library of magnetic nanoparticles, composed of iron oxide materials in the range between 3 and 43 nm, with two different shapes and four different coatings is prepared. The colloid color is analyzed using the RGB (red, green, blue) color model. Ratios of these parameters are correlated with the suspension iron concentration and with the nanoparticles average size. A linear relationship between the color (in particular the G/R ratio) and both the colloid iron content and the particles size is found. The link between these parameters allows the development of two new methods to determine either the concentration or the particle size of magnetic nanoparticle suspensions just by acquiring images from suspensions of iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles with a smartphone.     

Sonochemical coating of magnetite nanoparticles with silica

Magnetite nanoparticles were coated with silica through the hydrolysis and condensation of tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) under ultrasonic irradiation. The ultrasonic irradiation was used to prevent the agglomeration of the magnetite particles and accelerate the hydrolysis and condensation of TEOS. TEM, DLS, XRF, VSM, TG and sedimentation test were used to characterize the silica-coated magnetite particles. The dispersibility of silica-coated magnetite particles in aqueous solution was improved significantly and the agglomerate particle size was decreased to 110 nm. It was found that the agglomerate particle size of silica-coated magnetite particles was mainly decided by the coating temperature and the pH value in the silica-coating process. The weight ratio of silica in silica-coated magnetite particles was mainly decided by the pH value in the silica-coating process. The dispersibility of silica-coated magnetite particles was mainly decided by the agglomerate particle size of the suspension. The oxidation of magnetite particles in air was limited through the coated silica. The magnetism of silica-coated magnetite particles decreased slightly after silica-coating.     

银纳米粒子阵列的自组装及其表面增强拉曼光谱应用

在以聚赖氨酸为表面耦联层分子的玻片基底制备了银纳米粒子阵列。ＳＥＭ表征结果表明,银粒子以亚单层的形式排列在基底表面。比较银溶胶和纳米粒子阵列的紫外可见光谱可见聚赖氨酸耦联层对银纳米粒子的粒径具有一定的选择性,甲基紫精在银纳米粒子阵列上的表面增强ＦＴ拉曼光谱表明在近红外区拉曼散射的表面增强主要来自于化学增强效应。     

In situ characterization of nanoparticles during growth by means of white light scattering

A simple method of characterization of suspensions of spherical nanoparticles with monotonically variable size is proposed. It allows for the in situ measurement of the particle size as well as spectral dependence of their refractive indices. The method requires three optical channels: one for the illumination of a suspension by white light and two for the measurements of the spectra of scattered light. Parameters of the particles are determined by fitting the measured temporal spectral surfaces by the calculated Mie scattering functions. The method is applied to the particles being grown in a low-pressure reactive plasma of a discharge in an acetylene-argon mixture.     

石英砂-聚乙烯二元混合体系的太赫兹光谱特性研究

太赫兹时域光谱技术目前逐渐应用于对岩石的研究中。在制备样品时通常需要将岩石磨碎后与粘合剂混合压片,岩石的含量、粒径等都会对测试结果造成影响。将自然界中常见的石英砂粉末（不同粒径）与聚乙烯（PE）微粒以不同的比例混合,通过压片的手段将其制成适用于太赫兹系统测试的样品,用以探究样品中石英砂的含量以及其粒径对实验结果的影响。首先研究石英砂含量对实验结果造成的影响。在保持样品中石英砂的粒径不变的情况下,发现不同石英砂含量样品的时域光谱图中,时间延迟以及峰值都呈现出非单调的变化趋势。为了探究出现这种现象的原因,对样品的折射率以及吸收系数做了进一步的分析。结果表明样品的折射率会随着样品中石英砂含量的增加而逐渐增大,通过适用于本实验的有效介质理论能够解释这一现象。样品对于太赫兹波段的吸收系数随着石英砂含量的增加呈现出先增大后减小的现象,并且在石英砂质量分数为60%时达到最大值。为了解释这一现象产生的原因,利用扫描电子显微镜对样品的微观形貌进行观察,发现随着石英砂含量的增加,在压制样品时PE颗粒破碎程度加剧,导致PE的粒径变小。根据米氏散射以及瑞利散射的原理,石英砂粒径不变而PE粒径减小,随之降低的散射强度与石英砂的吸收效应发生竞争,从而导致了吸收系数先增大后减小的现象。进一步研究了石英砂粒径对实验结果的影响,对不同粒径的石英砂样品进行测试,发现折射率不随石英砂粒径的变化而改变,但其吸收系数随着石英砂粒径的减小而逐渐减小。根据米氏散射,样品吸收系数的变化是由于散射强度随石英砂粒径的减小而逐渐减小。研究表明,样品中石英砂的含量和粒径都会对实验结果产生影响。石英砂粒径相同时,样品的吸收系数随石英砂含量的增加呈现先增大后减小的趋势,样品的折射率随石英砂含量的增加而逐渐增大;石英砂含量相同时,样品的吸收系数随石英砂粒径的减小而逐渐减小,而样品的折射率基本不变。这一结论对矿物样品的制备以及对混合物的实验结果分析有一定程度的指导意义。     

双峰分布颗粒体系的多角度动态光散射数据反演

采用多角度动态光散射和加权正则化反演方法,对4组模拟的双峰分布颗粒体系(100/600 nm,200/600 nm,300/600 nm和350/600 nm)分别选取1、3、6和10个散射角进行测量.粒度反演结果表明,采用加权正则化方法反演双峰颗粒体系的多角度动态光散射测量数据,可获得峰值位置比小于2∶1且含有大粒径(＞350 nm)颗粒的双峰颗粒粒度分布.采用标准聚苯乙烯乳胶颗粒进行实测的结果验证了这一结论.得到含大粒径颗粒的双峰粒度分布反演结果的原因在于,多角度动态光散射能提供更多的大粒径颗粒的粒度信息,加权正则化反演方法能减少测量数据中的噪声,因而多角度动态光散射测量数据的加权反演能实现峰值位置比小于2∶1且含有大粒径颗粒的双峰颗粒体系的测量.     

Particle Sizing Using Frequency Domain Photon Migration

The transport properties of particulate process streams and their final product quality, are directly affected by critical parameters of particle size distribution, f(x), and volume, mass, or number density of particles or dispersed phase droplets. A method is proposed for the potential on-line monitoring of particle size distribution and volume fraction in real time, using frequency-domain photon migration measurements (FDPM). Theory, experimental measurements, and results for the determination of particle size distributions for both a polystyrene latex and a titanium dioxide suspension determined using the photon migration technique are presented. The critical issues associated with the application of photon migration to particulate and dispersed phase processes are discussed, including the effects of interparticle interactions on the transport of light.     

Molecular orbital study of excited state geometry of substituted benzenes

The liquid-like structure of a polystyrene latex solution of particle size 109 nm and its dependence on the ionic strength of added sodium chloride is investigated via the static light scattering structure factor S(Q). The experimental S(Q)s are compared with structure factors derived in the rescaled mean spherical approximation (RMSA) of Hansen and Hayter. After adjustment of the macromolecular charge Z _M such that the neat (salt free) latex solution is best represented by the RMSA, the experimental structure factors obtained after addition of salt can adequately be accounted for in terms of the RMSA by merely readjusting the ionic strength in the calculations. Our investigation indicates that the RMSA and the underlying screened Coulomb potential are suited for a detailed simulation of the structure and structural changes due to a variation of the ionic strength of liquid-like ordered solutions.