Influence of surface heterogeneities on reversibility of fullerene (nC60) nanoparticle attachment in saturated porous media

Abstract This study systematically investigated influence of surface roughness and surface chemical heterogeneity on attachment and detachment of nC 60 nanoparticles in saturated porous media by conducting laboratory column experiments. Sand and glass beads were employed as a model collectors to represent a different surface roughness. The two collectors were treated by washing with only deionized water or by using acids to extensively remove chemical heterogeneities. Results show that both attachment and detachment were more in the acid-treated sand than those in the acid-treated glass beads. The greater attachment and detachment were attributed to the reason that sand surfaces have much more nanoscale asperities, which facilitates particle attachment atop of them at primary minima and subsequent detachment upon reduction of ionic strength. No detachment was observed if the water-washed collectors were employed, demonstrating that the couple of chemical heterogeneity with nanoscale roughness causes irreversible attachment in primary minima. Whereas existing studies frequently represented surface rough asperities as regular geometries (e.g., hemisphere, cone, pillar) for estimating influence of surface roughness on Derjaguin–Landau–Verwey–Overbeek (DLVO) interaction energies, our theoretical calculations indicate that the assumptions could underestimate both attachment and detachment because these geometries cannot account for surface curvature effects.