Effects of layer-by-layer coating on activated carbon electrodes for capacitive deionization.

Recently, the need for obtaining, reusing, or purifying water has become a crucial issue. The capacitive deionization (CDI) method, which is based on the electric double layer (EDL) concept, can be applied to ion adsorption from an aqueous solution. This process is carried out by applying a potential difference to highly porous electrodes while pumping salty solution between them, partially removing the ions present in the solution and keeping them in the surface of the electrodes.

Polymer-induced orientation of nanowires under electric fields.

The controlled orientation of metallic wires inside a polymeric medium can enhance desired properties of the composites, such as the electrical conductivity or the optical transmittance. In this work, we study silver nanowire orientation in semidilute suspensions of DNA and find an intriguing effect: under the application of low-frequency AC electric fields with moderate amplitude, the DNA coils can provoke the orientation of the wires in solution. The phenomenon is entirely induced by the polymer, when it is deformed by the application of an electric field.

AC Electrokinetics of Salt-Free Multilayered Polymer-Grafted Particles.

Interest in the electrical properties of the interface between soft (or polymer-grafted) nanoparticles and solutions is considerable. Of particular significance is the case of polyelectrolyte-coated particles, mainly taking into account that the layer-by-layer procedure allows the control of the thickness and permeability of the layer, and the overall charge of the coated particle. Like in simpler systems, electrokinetic determinations in AC fields (including dielectric dispersion in the 1 kHz-1 MHz frequency range and dynamic electrophoresis by electroacoustic methods in the 1-18 MHz range) provide a large amount of information about the physics of the interface.

Assembly of Soft Electrodes and Ion Exchange Membranes for Capacitive Deionization.

The responsible use of water, as well as its reuse and purification, has been a major problem for decades now. In this work, we study a method for adsorbing ions from aqueous solutions on charged interfaces using highly porous electrodes. This water purification process is based on the electric double layer concept, using the method known as capacitive deionization (CDI): If we pump salty solutions through the volume comprised between two porous electrodes while applying a potential difference to them, ions present in the solution are partially removed and trapped on the electrode surfaces.

Charging Poly(methyl Methacrylate) Latexes in Nonpolar Solvents: Effect of Particle Concentration.

The electrophoresis of a well-established model system of charged colloids in nonpolar solvents has been studied as a function of particle volume fraction at constant surfactant concentration. Dispersions of poly(12-hydroxystearic acid)-stabilized poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) latexes in dodecane were prepared with added Aerosol OT surfactant as the charging agent. The electrophoretic mobility (μ) of the PMMA latexes is found to decrease with particle concentration.

Use of Soft Electrodes in Capacitive Deionization of Solutions.

All efforts to obtain, reuse or purify water are extremely significant for society. Recently, researchers have begun to delve in an idea born decades ago: the desalination of water using highly porous electrodes. It is based on a fundamental aspect of electrical double layers, namely, their huge capacitance.

Competition between excluded-volume and electrostatic interactions for nanogel swelling: effects of the counterion valence and nanogel charge.

In this work the equilibrium distribution of ions around a thermo-responsive charged nanogel particle in an electrolyte aqueous suspension is explored using coarse-grained Monte Carlo computer simulations and the Ornstein-Zernike integral equation theory. We explicitly consider the ionic size in both methods and study the interplay between electrostatic and excluded-volume effects for swollen and shrunken nanogels, monovalent and trivalent counterions, and for two different nanogel charges. We find good quantitative agreement between the ionic density profiles obtained using both methods when the excluded repulsive force exerted by the cross-linked polymer network is taken into account.

Influence of ionic strength and polyelectrolyte concentration on the electrical conductivity of suspensions of soft colloidal polysaccharides.

The electrokinetic properties of carboxymethyldextran, a soft and anionic polysaccharide, were analysed in aqueous NaNO3 solutions through measurements of the electrical conductivity of the suspensions. The results, which furnish new experimental support for the structure of soft polysaccharides in electrolyte solution show that the polyion concentration governs the conductance behavior of the suspension as the ionic strength decreases. This is particularly evident for large polymer concentrations, for which electrical double layer overlap is more likely.

Electric Permittivity and Dynamic Mobility of Dilute Suspensions of Platelike Gibbsite Particles.

In this work we discuss the electrokinetic evaluation of model platelike particles. By model particles we mean homogeneous and controlled size and shape. The electrokinetic analysis in such complex geometries cannot be limited to a single data point as in usual electrophoresis in constant (dc) fields.

Excluded volume effects on ionic partitioning in gels and microgels: a simulation study.

In this work the effect of volume exclusion on ionic partitioning in swollen and moderately collapsed gels has been studied through coarse-grained simulations. Our results show that finite size effects yield deviations from the classical theory of Donnan exclusion. At low or moderate reservoir electrolyte concentration these discrepancies become important if one of the ions has diameters of just a few nanometers.

Temperature-sensitive nanogels in the presence of salt: explicit coarse-grained simulations.

In this work, coarse-grained simulations of two charged thermo-shrinking nanogels (with degrees of ionization of 0.125 and 0.250) in the presence of 1:1 and 3:1 electrolytes have been explicitly performed through the bead-spring model of polyelectrolyte.

Temperature effects on energy production by salinity exchange.

In recent years, the capacitance of the interface between charged electrodes and ionic solutions (the electric double layer) has been investigated as a source of clean energy. Charge is placed on the electrodes either by means of ion-exchange membranes or of an external power source. In the latter method, net energy is produced by simple solution exchange in open circuit, due to the associated decrease in the capacitance of the electric double layer.

Effect of Solution Composition on the Energy Production by Capacitive Mixing in Membrane-Electrode Assembly.

In this work, we consider the extent to which the presence of multivalent ions in solution modifies the equilibrium and dynamics of the energy production in a capacitive cell built with ion-exchange membranes in contact with high surface area electrodes. The cell potential in open circuit (OCV) is controlled by the difference between both membrane potentials, simulated as constant volume charge regions. A theoretical model is elaborated for steady state OCV, first in the case of monovalent solutions, as a reference.

Experimental and theoretical study of the silica particle interactions in the presence of multivalent rod-like ions.

The silica particle interactions in the presence of spermidine were systematically investigated both from experimental and theoretical points of view. The hydrodynamic radii and the corresponding polydispersity indices of the colloidal silica particles were determined by dynamic light scattering (DLS) as a function of spermidine concentration. Whereas the effective size of the silica particles increases with increasing spermidine concentration (pointing to the particle aggregation), the polydispersity index first increases reaches a maximum and then further decreases with the increasing spermidine concentration.

Electrophoresis and dielectric dispersion of spherical polyelectrolyte brushes.

Spherical polyelectrolyte brushes (SPBs) consist of a rigid core on which polyelectrolyte chains are grafted in such a way that in certain conditions (low ionic strength and high charge of the chains) the polymer chains extend radially toward the liquid medium. Because of the hairy-like structure of the polymer brushes, the typical soft-particle approach used for explaining the behavior of polyelectrolyte-coated particles must be modified, using the assumptions that the density of charged segments in the polymer chains decreases with the squared distance to the rigid core surface and that the same happens to the friction between the brushes and the surrounding fluid. Interest in clarifying the electrokinetics of these systems is not just academic.

Monoolein: a magic lipid?

During the last few years, there has been an extraordinary increase in publications describing the manifold applications of monoolein, one of the most important lipids in the fields of drug delivery, emulsion stabilization and protein crystallization. In this perspective we present a comprehensive review of the phase behavior of this 'magic lipid'. An account of various mesophases formed in the presence of water and a collection of formulae for the calculation of their nano-structural parameters are provided.

Stabilization of lead sulfide nanoparticles by polyamines in aqueous solutions. A structural study of the dispersions.

Lead sulfide (PbS) nanoparticles have been synthesized in aqueous solutions by a reaction between inorganic lead salts and sodium sulfide and stabilized using the cationic polyelectrolytes branched poly(ethylenimine) (PEI), poly(allylamine hydrochloride) (PAH), and poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) (PDDA). The structures of the polyamine-stabilized nanoparticle dispersions were examined in detail using UV-vis spectroscopy, small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), static and dynamic electrophoretic mobility measurements, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Considerable differences were found between the stabilizing efficiencies of these polyelectrolytes, which cannot be attributed to their charge densities or their persistence lengths.

AC electrokinetics of concentrated suspensions of soft particles.

In this work, we show how the cell model traditionally used for the evaluation of the electrokinetic properties of concentrated suspensions can be modified to include the case of soft particles, that is, particles consisting of a rigid core and a polyelectrolyte membrane. The Navier-Stokes and Poisson's equations have been modified to account for the presence of extra friction and a volume-distributed charge in the membrane. In addition to the boundary conditions on the particle and the cell boundary, it is necessary to define conditions on the polymer-electrolyte solution interface.