title: Asymmetric charge renormalization for nanoparticles in aqueous media.
abstract: The effective renormalized charge of nanoparticles in an aqueous electrolyte is essential to determine their solubility. By using a molecular model for the supporting aqueous electrolyte, we find that the effective renormalized charge of the nanoparticles is strongly dependent on the sign of the bare charge. Negatively charged nanoparticles have a lower effective renormalized charge than positively charged nanoparticles. The degree of asymmetry is a nonmonotonic function of the bare charge of the nanoparticle. We show that the effect is due to the asymmetric charge distribution of the water molecules, which we model using a simple three-site molecular structure of point charges.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: González-Mozuelos
authors.forename: M Olvera
authors.initials: MO
authors.lastname: de la Cruz
mesh_terms: D004583:Electrons; D008956:Models, Chemical; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D010316:Particle Size; D012997:Solvents / Q000737:chemistry; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D012997:Solvents; D014867:Water