Tuning the Interaction of Nanoparticles from Repulsive to Attractive by Pressure

DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.6b06847

Authors: Martin Alfred Schroer (The Hamburg Centre for Ultrafast Imaging (CUI), Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY) , Florian Schulz (University of Hamburg, The Hamburg Centre for Ultrafast Imaging (CUI),) , Felix Lehmkühler (The Hamburg Centre for Ultrafast Imaging (CUI), Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY) , Johannes Möller (4) ESRF - The European Synchrotron) , Andrew J. Smith (Diamond Light Source) , Holger Lange (University of Hamburg, The Hamburg Centre for Ultrafast Imaging (CUI),) , Tobias Vossmeyer (Institute of Physical Chemistry, University of Hamburg) , Gerhard Grübel (The Hamburg Centre for Ultrafast Imaging (CUI), Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY)
Co-authored by industrial partner: No

Type: Journal Paper
Journal: The Journal Of Physical Chemistry C

State: Published (Approved)
Published: August 2016
Diamond Proposal Number(s): 11192

Abstract: We report a high pressure small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) study on concentrated aqueous suspensions of gold nanoparticles coated with a poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-based ligand shell. Analyzing the experimental SAXS data with a liquid-state theory approach, we find a pressure-induced transition of the interparticle interactions from repulsive to attractive in the pressure range from 1 to 4000 bar that also depends on the particle concentration. This transition is related to structural changes of the ligand shell which is compressed with increasing pressure. Our study highlights the important, yet unexplored role of pressure for the interaction of nanoparticle systems.

Subject Areas: Materials, Physics, Chemistry


Instruments: I22-Small angle scattering & Diffraction