Tuning Colloidal Interactions Through Coordination Chemistry

The present work addresses the question of the range and amplitude of bridging attraction that is induced between surfactant micelles functionalized with complexing groups in the presence of coordination centers. An alkylethoxylated ester phosphate (AEP) is synthesized from a non‐ionic surfactant and anchored into DTAB micelles. In the absence of any coordination center, functionalized micelles repel each other. Phase behavior, dynamic light scattering and small angle neutrons scattering (SANS) experiments show that this repulsive interaction is switched to attractive by the addition of coordination centers such as aluminum cations. The extent of the composition range of coexisting phase depends on the concentration of coordination center and on the pH. Analysis of the structure factor obtained from SANS shows that the range of attraction is determined by the molecular dimension of the chelating surfactant, while the depth can be tuned with the concentration of coordination center and the pH. The strong influence of the pH is interpreted as arising from the condensation of aluminium cations that lead to high functional polynuclear complexes.