Simulation study of the effect of the potential range interaction on the agglomeration mechanism of colloidal nanoparticles using a particle agglomeration model

The development of new nanomaterials from colloidal nanoparticles has been a subject of interest for some decades in scientific and technological areas. However, one of the limitations of these systems is their tendency to agglomerate. This phenomenon is particularly important during the synthesis, purification, and storage steps. Many efforts have been carried out to stabilise these systems to avoid or control the agglomeration; one way is the use of stabilising additives. In order to gain knowledge about the mechanisms that prevent the formation of agglomerates in colloidal nanoparticles with stabilising moieties, in which the continuous media may change its composition, a computer simulation study about the effect of the interaction range on the agglomeration mechanism was developed by using a simple two component associating fluid model, via the mean clusters size and the cluster size distribution. Also, an analysis of the temperature effect for the lowest interaction range was included to explain a change in the behaviour of the agglomeration mechanism. According to the simulation results, the formation of clusters could not be totally avoided in CNPs systems, but the cluster size could be controlled by changing the attractive interaction range or the temperature.

Automated summary

The tendency of colloidal nanoparticles to agglomerate is a limitation for the development of new nanomaterials. Through computer simulation studies, it has been found that the size of clusters can be controlled by changing the interaction range or temperature.