The
effects of particle interactions on the size segregation and
assembly of colloidal mixtures during drying were investigated. A
cationic surfactant was added to a binary latex/silica colloidal dispersion
that has been shown to self-stratify upon drying at room temperature.
Atomic force microscopy was used to show that the change in particle
interactions due to the presence of surfactants reduced the degree
of stratification and, in some cases, suppressed the effect altogether.
Colloidal dispersions containing higher surfactant concentrations
can undergo a complete morphology change, resulting instead in the
formation of armored particles consisting of latex particles coated
with smaller silica nanoparticles. To further prove that armored particles
are produced and that stratification is suppressed, cross-sectional
images were produced with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and
confocal fluorescence microscopy. The growth of armored particles
was also measured using dynamic light scattering. To complement this
research, Brownian dynamics simulations were used to model the drying.
By tuning the particle interactions to make them more attractive,
the simulations showed the presence of armored particles, and the
size segregation process was hindered. The prevention of segregation
also results in enhanced transparency of the colloidal films. Overall,
this research proves that there is a link between particle interactions
and size segregation in drying colloidal blends and provides a valuable
tool to control the assembly of different film architectures using
an extremely simple method.