Abstract
The process of reconstruction of pre-fabricated films comprising maghemite nanoparticles deposited onto flat glass substrates triggered by immersion into aqueous solutions of meso-2,3-dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) at increasing concentration (0.025, 0.050, and 0.100 mol/L) is herein reported. The evolution of this process was assessed by measuring the time (t) dependence of the particle analysis histogram width (W) extracted from atomic force microscopy images. Furthermore, a physical picture to model the film reconstruction which provides reconstruction time constants associated to single particles (τ1) and small agglomerates (τn), the key units associated to the process, ranging from τ1 = 2.9 and τn = 3.4 hour (0.025 mol/L) to τ1 = 5.1 and τn = 4.6 hour (0.100 mol/L) is proposed. The nanoparticle-based film reconstruction triggered by an exogenous stimulus, the use of the W versus t data to describe the process and the model picture accounting for the recorded data have not been previously reported.
Highlights
The maghemite nanoparticle (MNP)-based film reconstruction triggered by the dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) aqueous solution treatment can be assessed by modeling the cumulative time (t) dependence of the particle analysis histogram width (W)
There are two limiting scenarios for the proposed model picture we explored in the present report
The maghemite-based film was deposited onto glass slides using a single-step immersion of the flat substrate into ionic magnetic fluid (MF) comprising the as-synthesized MNP (9.5 ± 0.2 nm average core diameter) suspended in low pH aqueous medium, containing about 1 × 1016 particle/ mL
Summary
The MNP-based film reconstruction triggered by the DMSA aqueous solution treatment can be assessed by modeling the cumulative time (t) dependence of the particle analysis histogram width (W). Present short reconstruction time (τn = 4.6 hour) whereas single particles dominate the surface reconstruction process revealing long reconstruction time (τ1 = 5.1 hour) It is worth comparing the experimental W values extracted from the DMSA-treated film at the shortest (5 minute) and longest (31 hour) times of treatment, namely 6.8 and 7.2 (Sample-H) and 7.7 and 6.9 (Sample-L), respectively. The film reconstruction was successfully described by a proposed model which includes single and small agglomerates of DMSA-dressed MNPs. The proposed model was used to assess the typical reconstruction time constants (τ1 and τn) by fitting the width (W) of the particle analysis histogram as a function of the cumulative DMSA-treatment time (t)
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