title: Measuring the three-phase contact angle of nanoparticles at fluid interfaces.
abstract: We report a generic technique to image and study the wettability of spherical nanoparticles adsorbed at liquid surfaces and demonstrate that nanoparticle monolayers can be imprinted at air-water and oil-water interfaces and their three-phase contact angle at the original liquid interface can be determined by an atomic force microscopy scan on a replica of the interface; the technique is tested using four different types of nanoparticles, the smallest one having a radius of 37 nm.
authors.affiliation: Foods Structural Design/UFHRI, Unilever Research, Vlaardingen, Olivier van Noortlaan 120, 3133 AT Vlaardingen, The Netherlands. luben.arnaudov@unilever.com
authors.forename: Luben N
authors.initials: LN
authors.lastname: Arnaudov
authors.forename: Olivier J
authors.initials: OJ
authors.lastname: Cayre
authors.forename: Martien A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Cohen Stuart
authors.forename: Simeon D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Stoyanov
authors.forename: Vesselin N
authors.initials: VN
authors.lastname: Paunov
mesh_terms: D000388:Air; D004129:Dimethylpolysiloxanes / Q000737:chemistry; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D009821:Oils / Q000737:chemistry; D013499:Surface Properties; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D004129:Dimethylpolysiloxanes; D009821:Oils; D014867:Water; C013830:baysilon