The unexpected formation of transiently stabilised nanoparticle pairs in water is important because the delay associated with the dehydration of interacting nanoscale surfaces may be very important in many natural processes. For example, in the case of two fusing nanocrystals in solution, the short delay time prior to their contact may be all that is need to reorient themselves to form larger defect free-crystals, a process known as oriented attachment. In a biological system, the delay time associated with surface dehydration may provide an opportunity for two interacting proteins to explore optimal binding conformations.
This approach of probing interactions between nanoparticles based on advanced imaging and image processing tools now opens the possibility of exploring a wide range of interactions between nanoscale bodies in solution. Detailed understanding of these interactions that cannot be probed by other conventional methods will be the basis of our future research, that aims to explores the self-assembly of functional nanodevices from different nanoparticles.
Figure shows the balance between an attractive van der Waals force and a repulsive hydration force results in formation of transiently stabilised nanoparticle pair [Image credit: Utkur Mirsaidov].
Reference
Anand U, Lu J, Loh D, Aabdin Z, Mirsaidov U. “Hydration Layer-Mediated Pairwise Interaction of Nanoparticles”. Nano Letters 16 (2016) 786.
