Adsorption, Aggregation and Structure Formation in Systems of Charged Particles: From Colloidal to Supracolloidal Assembly (Springer Theses)

"This thesis presents studies on the interaction of soft materials like surfactants and proteins with hard silica nanomaterials. Due to its interdisciplinary nature it combines concepts from the fields of physical chemistry, nanoscience and materials science, yielding to fundamental insights into the structure-directing forces operating at the nano-scale. It is shown that the morphology of surfactant micellar aggregates adsorbed at the surface of nanoparticles and inside tubular nanopores can be tuned on demand by the co-adsorption of a surface modifier. The interaction of globular proteins with silica nanoparticles is dominated by electrostatic interactions and can be controlled by pH and ionic strength, while the bridging of nanoparticles by adsorbed protein molecules leads to large-scale hybrid aggregates of protein with the nanoparticles. Concepts emerging from the role of electrostatic interactions in the hetero-aggregation of nanoparticles with protein molecules are used for the co-assembly of charged microbeads into linear clusters and chains of controllable length"--Back cover Front Matter....Pages i-xvi Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Introduction....Pages 3-14 Methods....Pages 15-28 Theory and Modeling....Pages 29-43 Front Matter....Pages 45-45 Surfactant Adsorption and Aggregate Structure at Silica Nanoparticles....Pages 47-61 Assembling Wormlike Micelles in Tubular Nanopores by Tuning Surfactant-Wall Interactions....Pages 63-78 Front Matter....Pages 79-79 Aggregation of Silica Nanoparticles Directed by Adsorption of Lysozyme....Pages 81-102 Effect of pH and Salinity on Silica–Lysozyme Hetero-Aggregation....Pages 103-119 Protein-Specific Effects of Binding to Silica Nanoparticles....Pages 121-128 Front Matter....Pages 129-129 Permanent Supracolloidal Biparticle Assembly Triggered by an Electric Field....Pages 131-139 Front Matter....Pages 141-141 Summary and Outlook....Pages 143-146 Back Matter....Pages 147-150