Two types of silica nanoparticles having differing concentrations of ionizable surface groups are used to investigate the interplay between nanoparticle surface charge and solvent dielectric constant in nano-structure development during layer-by-layer assembly with a cationic polyacrylamide. Zeta (zeta) potential measurements are used to determine the extent of silanol dissociation with pH. For 19-nm-diameter X-Tec 3408 silica nanoparticles from Nano-X GmbH (NanoX), complete dissociation yields a zeta-potential value of about -44 mV and occurs between pH 5 and 6 in 50% ethanol-in-water mixture by volume. By contrast, 65-nm-diameter polishing silica from Electron Microscopy Supply (EMS) has zeta potential that does not equilibrate even up to pH 7 with a value of 59 mV under otherwise similar solution conditions. The more negative zeta potential at a given pH is found to substantially reduce nanoparticle adsorption. This behavior is opposite that observed when the dielectric constant of the suspension is decreased, independent of particle size. Nanoparticle surface chemical heterogeneity is discussed as a plausible explanation for such seriously discrepant behavior and the effects on multilayer electrical contact resistance for proton-exchange membrane (PEM) fuel-cell coating applications are presented. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.