Colloidal assembly of magnetic nanoparticles and polyelectrolytes by arrested electrostatic interaction

This work presents a simple approach which can efficiently moderate the wild electrostatic attractions between anionic nanoparticles and cationic homopolyelectrolytes. Sizes and morphologies of the synthesized aggregates do not show any dependency on the formulation in terms of charges ratios or on the chemical nature of the polycations. This simple direct mixing process does not require a specific manipulation device which is of great interest for potential applications.