Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 2011-01-01

Surface-dependent chemical equilibrium constants and capacitances for bare and 3-cyanopropyldimethylchlorosilane coated silica nanochannels.

Mathias Bækbo Andersen, Jared Frey, Sumita Pennathur, Henrik Bruus

Index: J. Colloid. Interface Sci. 353(1) , 301-10, (2011)

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Abstract

We present a combined theoretical and experimental analysis of the solid-liquid interface of fused-silica nanofabricated channels with and without a hydrophilic 3-cyanopropyldimethylchlorosilane (cyanosilane) coating. We develop a model that relaxes the assumption that the surface parameters C(1), C(2), and pK(+) are constant and independent of surface composition. Our theoretical model consists of three parts: (i) a chemical equilibrium model of the bare or coated wall, (ii) a chemical equilibrium model of the buffered bulk electrolyte, and (iii) a self-consistent Gouy-Chapman-Stern triple-layer model of the electrochemical double layer coupling these two equilibrium models. To validate our model, we used both pH-sensitive dye-based capillary filling experiments as well as electro-osmotic current-monitoring measurements. Using our model we predict the dependence of ζ potential, surface charge density, and capillary filling length ratio on ionic strength for different surface compositions, which can be difficult to achieve otherwise.Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.