Stability and adsorption properties of electrostatic complexes: design of hybrid nanostructures for coating applications

We report the presence of a correlation between the bulk and interfacial properties of electrostatic coacervate complexes. Complexes were obtained by co-assembly between cationic-neutral diblocks and oppositely charged surfactant micelles or 7 nm cerium oxide nanoparticles. Light scattering and reflectometry measurements revealed that the hybrid nanoparticle aggregates were more stable through both dilution and rinsing (from either a polystyrene or a silica surface) than their surfactant counterparts. These findings were attributed to a marked difference in critical association concentration between the two systems and to the frozen state of the hybrid structures.