Enthalpy profile of pH-induced flocculation and redispersion of polyacrylic acid-coated nanoparticles in protic ionic liquid, N,N-diethylethanolammonium trifluoromethanesulfonate

Maghemite nanoparticles coated with polyacrylic acid (pAA) were dispersed in the protic ionic liquid, diethylethanolammonium trifluoromethanesulfonate (DEEAH+⋅TfO−), and the thermodynamics of particle dispersion was studied by means of potentiometric and calorimetric titrations over the entire accessible pH range. As previously reported, the domain of colloidal stability is divided into two pH regions, mildly acidic and basic, separated by a flocculation domain at an intermediate pH. In this study, solvent DEEAH+⋅TfO− was first characterized in terms of the thermodynamic parameters of two reference reactions: autoprotolysis and ionization of acetic acid. A negative autoprotolysis entropy is obtained due to hydrogen-bond formation between the neutralized solvent cation, DEEA, and the neighboring cation DEEAH+. This suggests that the solvent structure is reinforced by the formation of neutral species, being an opposite trend to both ethylammonium nitrate and water. Second, the ionization and flocculation of pAA-coated nanoparticles (CNps) in the ionic liquid were examined. The potentiometric results could be modeled using a simple pAA ionization, independent of the aggregation state over the entire pH range. However, the calorimetric titration detected extra heat generation in an acidic condition prior to flocculation, in addition to an ionization enthalpy of pAA of 30 kJ/mol. This exothermic contribution is attributed to a change in the solvation process of CNps in the ionic liquid. Herein, we propose a model in which different types of solvation in the acidic and basic domains are sufficient to ensure colloidal stability, while aggregation unfolds between the switching pH.