Effects of dissolved metal chlorides on the behavior of silica nanoparticles in aqueous media

Effects of chlorides of univalent (LiCl, NaCl, KCl), bivalent (MgCl₂, BaCl₂) and trivalent (AlCl₃) metals at different concentration (0.001–0.1 M) on the behavior of nanosilica A-200 (0.5–5 wt.%) in aqueous media are analyzed using photon correlation spectroscopy (particle size distribution, PSD), electrophoresis (zeta potential ζ), potentiometric titration (surface charge density), and estimation of screening length of primary particles and their aggregates. The zeta potential and the PSD are affected by silica content, pH, and concentration and type of dissolved salts. Smaller but more strongly hydrated Li⁺ cations caused stronger nonlinear dependences of the zeta potential on pH and salt content than Na⁺ or K⁺. This nonlinearity is much stronger at a lower content of silica (0.5–1 wt.%) than at C _A-200 = 2.5 or 5 wt.%. At a high concentration of nanosilica (5 wt.%) the effect of K⁺ ions causes stronger diminution of the negative value of the zeta potential due to better adsorption of larger cations. Therefore, the influence of K⁺ on increasing screening length is stronger than that of Na⁺ for both primary nanoparticles and their aggregates. A similar difference in the ζ values is observed for different in size cations Ba²⁺ and Mg²⁺.