Nanoparticle - surfactant networks - interaction in bio-friendly gels
The natural fatty acid oleic acid easily forms gels depending on charge compensation brought about by counterions. In the presence of sodium chloride, long flexible wormlike micelles are formed while with arginine, an amino acid positively charged in water, it forms short stiff cylinders in a liquid crystalline packing. In both cases, viscoelastic gels are obtained, although with very different mechanical properties and temperature sensitivity. With this experiment, we want to determine the detailed architecture of such systems in the presence of silica nanoparticles (SiNPs) functionalized with amino acids. We will elucidate if surfactants are creating a shell around the particles, if the particles adsorb or connect to the surfactant aggregates, and how the network structure is affected by the SiNPs. In addition, the structural bridging between the two types of networks will be studied. The knowledge gained from this experiment will allow understanding and optimizing hydroferrogels where magnetic nanoparticles coated with silica can induce locomotion, impeded by the gel-forming network, leading to memory effects that can be "erased" by heating cycles.
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SCHATTE Sarah; GRADZIELSKI Michael; GRILLO Isabelle; PREVOST Sylvain and SELIGER Jan. (2015). Nanoparticle - surfactant networks - interaction in bio-friendly gels. Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) doi:10.5291/ILL-DATA.9-12-429
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