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Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Surfactant and Nanoparticle Self-Assembly at Liquid-Liquid Interfaces Mingxiang Luo and Lenore L. Dai Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409
Self-assembly of nanosized objects at liquid-liquid interfaces is of tremendous interest for various natural and industrial applications. The importance of surfactant interfacial self-assembly is reflected through its wide applications such as lubrication, detergency, biological transferring, and polymer processing. Recently, there has been a growing interest in the self-assembly of nanoparticles due to their important applications. However, many natural and industrial processes involve both surfactants and nanoparticles. Here, we investigate the heterogeneous and competitive self-assembly of surfactants and nanoparticles at liquid-liquid interfaces. The nanoparticle, sodium dodecyl sulfate, water, and trichloroethylene are represented in red, yellow, blue, and green, respectively. The animations illustrate the dependence of interfacial self-assembly on surfactant concentrations. At low concentrations of surfactants (upper panel), the surfactants and nanoparticles co-equilibrate at the interfaces. In contrast, the surfactants, at high concentrations (lower panel), competitively dominate the interfaces and deplete the nanoparticles away from the interfaces.
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