Surface charge density on silica in alkali and alkaline earth chloride electrolyte solutions

The surface charge density of colloidal SiO2 (Aerosil 380) was measured in alkali chloride (0.067 and 0.20 M LiCl, NaCl, and KCl) and alkaline earth chloride (0.067 M MgCl2, CaCl2, SrCl2, BaCl2) solutions. Measurements were conducted at 25 degrees C by potentiometric titrations using the constant ionic medium method in a CO2-free system. The experimental design measured surface charge for solutions with constant ionic strength as well as constant cation concentration. Alkali chloride solutions promote negative surface charge density in the order LiCl < NaCl < KCl to give the "regular" lyotropic behavior previously reported. In contrast, the alkaline earth chloride solutions exhibit a reversed lyotropic trend with increasing crystallographic radius where increasing negative charge is promoted in the order BaCl2 < SrCl2 < CaCl2 < MgCl2. The origin of the opposing affinity trends is probed by testing the hypothesis that this reversal is rooted in the differing solvent structuring characteristics of the IA and IIA cations at the silica-water interface. This idea arises from earlier postulations that solvent structuring effects increase entropy through solvent disordering and these gains must be much greater than the small, positive enthalpy associated with electrostatic interactions. By correlating measured charge density with a proxy for the solvent-structuring ability of cations, this study shows that silica surface charge density is maximized by those electrolytes that have the strongest effects on solvent structuring. We suggest that for a given solid material, solvation entropy has a role in determining the ionic specificity of electrostatic interactions and reiterate the idea that the concept of lyotropy is rooted in the solvent-structuring ability of cations at the interface. Copyright (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd