Hydration Layer-Mediated Pairwise Interaction of Nanoparticles

When any two surfaces in a solution come within a distance the size of a few solvent molecules, they experience a solvation force or a hydration force when the solvent is water. Although the range and magnitude of hydration forces are easy to characterize, the effects of these forces on the transient steps of interaction dynamics between nanoscale bodies in solution are poorly understood. Here, using in situ transmission electron microscopy, we show that when two gold nanoparticles in water approach each other at a distance within two water molecules (similar to 5 angstrom), which is the combined thickness of the hydration shell of each nanoparticle, they form a sterically stabilized transient nanoparticle dimer. The interacting surfaces of the nanoparticles come in contact and undergo coalescence only after these surfaces are fully dehydrated. Our observations of transient steps in nanoparticle interactions, which reveal the formation of hydration layer mediated metastable nanoparticle pairs in solution, have significant implications for many natural and industrial processes.