New Crosslinked Single-Ion Silica-PEO Hybrid Electrolytes.

New single-ion hybrid electrolytes have been synthetized via an original and simple synthetic approach combining Michael addition, epoxidation, and sol-gel polycondensation. We designed an organic PEO network as a matrix for the lithium transport, mechanically reinforced thanks to crosslinking inorganic (SiO1.5) sites, while highly delocalized anions based on lithium vinyl sulfonyl(trifluoromethane sulfonyl)imide (VSTFSILi) were grafted onto the inorganic sites to produce single-ion hybrid electrolytes (HySI). The influence of the electrolyte composition in terms of the inorganic/organic ratio and the grafted VSTFSILi content on the local structural organization, the thermal, mechanical, and ionic transport properties (ionic conductivity, transference number) are studied by a variety of techniques including SAXS, DSC, rheometry, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. SAXS measurements at 25 °C and 60 °C reveal that HySI electrolyte films display locally a spatial phase separation with domains composed of PEO rich phase and silica/VSTFSILi clusters. The size of these clusters increases with the silica and VSTFSILi content. A maximum ionic conductivity of 2.1 × 10-5 S·cm-1 at 80 °C has been obtained with HySI having an EO/Li ratio of 20. The Li+ ion transfer number of HySI electrolytes is high, as expected for a single-ion electrolyte, and comprises between 0.80 and 0.92.

The desalting/salting pathway: a route to form metastable aggregates with tuneable morphologies and lifetimes.

We investigate the formation/re-dissociation mechanisms of hybrid complexes made from negatively charged PAA2k coated γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles (NP) and positively charged polycations (PDADMAC) in aqueous solution in the regime of very high ionic strength (I). When the building blocks are mixed at large ionic strength (1 M NH4Cl), the electrostatic interaction is screened and complexation does not occur. If the ionic strength is then lowered down to a targeted ionic strength Itarget, there is a critical threshold Ic = 0.62 M at which complexation occurs, that is independent of the charge ratio Z and the pathway used to reduce salinity (drop-by-drop mixing or fast mixing). If salt is added back up to 1 M, the transition is not reversible and persistent out-of-equilibrium aggregates are formed. The lifetimes of such aggregates depends on Itarget: the closer Itarget to Ic is, the more difficult it is to dissolve the aggregates. Such peculiar behavior is driven by the inner structure of the complexes that are formed after desalting. When Itarget is far below Ic, strong electrostatic interactions induce the formation of dense, compact and frozen aggregates. Such aggregates can only poorly reorganize further on with time, which makes their dissolution upon resalting almost reversible. Conversely, when Itarget is close to Ic more open aggregates are formed due to weaker electrostatic interactions upon desalting. The system can thus rearrange with time to lower its free energy and reach more stable out-of-equilibrium states which are very difficult to dissociate back upon resalting, even at very high ionic strength.

Tuning of protein-surfactant interaction to modify the resultant structure.

Small-angle neutron scattering and dynamic light scattering studies have been carried out to examine the interaction of bovine serum albumin (BSA) protein with different surfactants under varying solution conditions. We show that the interaction of anionic BSA protein (pH7) with surfactant and the resultant structure are strongly modified by the charge head group of the surfactant, ionic strength of the solution, and mixed surfactants. The protein-surfactant interaction is maximum when two components are oppositely charged, followed by components being similarly charged through the site-specific binding, and no interaction in the case of a nonionic surfactant. This interaction of protein with ionic surfactants is characterized by the fractal structure representing a bead-necklace structure of micellelike clusters adsorbed along the unfolded protein chain. The interaction is enhanced with ionic strength only in the case of site-specific binding of an anionic surfactant with an anionic protein, whereas it is almost unchanged for other complexes of cationic and nonionic surfactants with anionic proteins. Interestingly, the interaction of BSA protein with ionic surfactants is significantly suppressed in the presence of nonionic surfactant. These results with mixed surfactants thus can be used to fold back the unfolded protein as well as to prevent surfactant-induced protein unfolding. For different solution conditions, the results are interpreted in terms of a change in fractal dimension, the overall size of the protein-surfactant complex, and the number of micelles attached to the protein. The interplay of electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions is found to govern the resultant structure of complexes.

Cationic versus anionic surfactant in tuning the structure and interaction of nanoparticle, protein, and surfactant complexes.

The structure and interaction in complexes of anionic Ludox HS40 silica nanoparticle, anionic bovine serum albumin (BSA) protein, and cationic dodecyl trimethylammonium bromide (DTAB) surfactant have been studied using small-angle neutron scattering (SANS). The results are compared with similar complexes having anionic sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) surfactant (Mehan, S; Chinchalikar, A. J.; Kumar, S.; Aswal, V. K.; Schweins, R. Langmuir 2013, 29, 11290). In both cases (DTAB and SDS), the structure in nanoparticle-protein-surfactant complexes is predominantly determined by the interactions of the individual two-component systems. The nanoparticle-surfactant (mediated through protein-surfactant complex) and protein-surfactant interactions for DTAB, but nanoparticle-protein (mediated through protein-surfactant complex) and protein-surfactant interactions for SDS, are found to be responsible for the resultant structure of nanoparticle-protein-surfactant complexes. Irrespective of the charge on the surfactant, the cooperative binding of surfactant with protein leads to micellelike clusters of surfactant formed along the unfolded protein chain. The adsorption of these protein-surfactant complexes for DTAB on oppositely charged nanoparticles gives rise to the protein-surfactant complex-mediated aggregation of nanoparticles (similar to that of DTAB surfactant). It is unlike that of depletion-induced aggregation of nanoparticles with nonadsorption of protein-surfactant complexes for SDS in similarly charged nanoparticle systems (similar to that of protein alone). The modifications in nanoparticle aggregation as well as unfolding of protein in these systems as compared to the corresponding two-component systems have also been examined by selectively contrast matching the constituents.

Small-angle neutron scattering study of structure and interaction of nanoparticle, protein, and surfactant complexes.

Small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) measurements have been carried out from the multicomponent system composed of Ludox HS40 silica nanoparticle, bovine serum albumin (BSA) protein, and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) surfactant in an aqueous system under the solution condition that all the components are negatively charged. Although the components are similarly charged, strong structural evolutions among them have been observed. The complexes of different components in pairs (nanoparticle-protein, nanoparticle-surfactant, and protein-surfactant) have been examined to correlate the role of each component in the three-component nanoparticle-protein-surfactant system. The nanoparticle-protein system shows depletion interaction induced aggregation of nanoparticles in the presence of protein. Both nanoparticle and surfactant coexist individually in a nanoparticle-surfactant system. In the case of a protein-surfactant system, the cooperative binding of surfactant with protein leads to micelle-like clusters of surfactant formed along the unfolded protein chain. The structure of the three-component (nanoparticle-protein-surfactant) system is found to be governed by the synergetic effect of nanoparticle-protein and protein-surfactant interactions. The nanoparticle aggregates coexist with the structures of protein-surfactant complex in the three-component system. The nanoparticle aggregation as well as unfolding of protein is enhanced in this system as compared to the corresponding two-component systems.