Nanoscale Surface Charge Visualization of Human Hair

The surface charge and topography of human hair are visualized synchronously at the nanoscale using scanning ion conductance microscopy (SICM), a scanning nanopipette probe technique that uses local ion conductance currents to image the physicochemical properties of interfaces. By combining SICM data with finite element method (FEM) simulations that solve for ion transport at the nanopipette under bias, one is able to quantitatively correlate colocated surface charge and topography. The hair samples studied herein, from a 25-year-old Caucasian male with light hair (as an exemplar), reveal that untreated hair, in areas ca. 1 cm from the root, has a fairly uniform negative charge density of ca. -15 mC/cm^-2 (in pH 6.8 aqueous solution), with some higher magnitude negative values localized near the boundaries between hair cuticles. Common chemical treatments result in varying degrees of charge heterogeneity. A bleach treatment produces some highly negatively charged localized regions (-80 to -100 mC/cm^-2 at pH 6.8), due to hair damage, while a chemical conditioner treatment causes an overall increase in the homogeneity of the surface charge, together with a shift in the surface charge to positive values. Bleached surfaces are temporarily repaired to some extent through the use of a conditioner, as judged by the surface charge values. Finally, SICM is able to detect differences in the surface charge density of hair at different distances from the root (equivalent to hair age). Presently, the assessment of hair surface charge mainly relies on zeta-potential measurements which lack spatial resolution, among other drawbacks. In contrast, SICM enables quantitative surface charge mapping that should be beneficial in deepening understanding of the physicochemical properties of hair and lead to the rational development of new treatments and the assessment of their efficacy at the nanoscale. Given the widespread interest in the surface charge properties of interfaces, this work further demonstrates that SICM should generally become an important characterization tool for surface analytical chemists.