The Importance of Curvature At the Nano-Scale: How and Why Curvature Influences Self-Assembly

While there has been significant progress in controlling the size, shape and properties of nanomaterials, their controlled assembly into nanostrucutres remains a significant challenge.  To date, many nanoparticles (NPs) of unusual shapes have been reported - but the role which curvature plays on the surface chemistry of these particles remains a mystery. We recently found that the pK_a of carboxylic acids bound to the surface of NPs deviates drastically compared to values for free ligands in solution. Interestingly, simply by controlling the size/shape of a NP, one can control the degree of charge on charged NP surface, shift the redox potentials of ligands on a NP surface and more. A mixture of experimental and theoretical results will be presented.