Mechanism of nanoparticle deposition on polystyrene latex particles

The deposition of positive amidine latex particles (98 nm in diameter) on negative polystyrene latex particles (820 nm in diameter) was studied by SEM imaging, microelectrophoretic and concentration depletion methods involving AFM. The role of ionic strength varied between 10(-4) and 10(-2) M and was systematically studied. The number of deposited positive latex particles (surface coverage) was evaluated by a direct counting procedure exploiting the SEM images. This allowed one to calibrate the results obtained from measurements of the electrophoretic mobility of larger latex particles covered by a controlled amount of the positive latex. These dependencies were quantitatively interpreted in terms of the 3D electrokinetic model previously used for planar interfaces. This allowed us to determine the coverage of nanoparticles on latex carriers under in situ conditions. Additionally, the maximum coverage of the positive latex was determined via AFM where the kinetics of the residual amidine latex deposition on mica was measured. The maximum coverage monotonically increased with ionic strength, attaining 0.52 for 10(-2) M NaCl. This effect was interpreted in terms of reduced electrostatic repulsion among positive latex particles and theoretically accounted for by the random sequential adsorption model. The obtained results have significance for basic science, indicating that the results obtained for curved interfaces (polymeric carrier particles) by the microelectrophoretic method can be exploited to interpret the deposition of nanoparticles and proteins on planar interfaces and vice versa.