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MEMY-471
Elements of Colloidal Dispersions

Course Type
Elective
Semester
Second
ECTS Credits
7

Syllabus

Introduction to Soft Matter

Examples of Soft Matter systems
Polymers, Colloids, Biomaterials, Surfactants and Micelles, Liquid Crystals, Emulsions and Foams.

Polymers

Polymer fundamentals
Introduction. Types and names of polymeric systems. Basic examples in Polymer Synthesis. Macromolecular characterization: chain architecture, molecular weight, end-to-end distance and radius of gyration. Solutions, concentration regimes, interactions. Phase behavior. Amorphous and Crystalline polymers. Elastomers. Polymer mixtures and copolymers.

Colloids

Colloidal systems
Introduction. Types of colloidal systems. Colloidal interaction, colloidal stabilization. Colloid-polymer mixtures. Dense suspensions and crystals. Colloidal glasses and gels.

Research Topics

Presentation
Presentation of a research topic or recent breakthrough study or modern application of colloidal systems.

Learning Outcomes

The course is an introduction to colloidal dispersions aiming to provide a basic knowledge on colloidal interactions, phase behavior and colloidal dynamics. The learning goals that students should have achieved at the end of the lesson are the following:

  1. Familiarize with colloidal systems and the main physical mechanisms governing their behavior.
  2. Understand the role of colloidal interactions in the stability of colloidal dispersions and the thermodynamic phase behavior as well as in the formation of out-of-equilibrium states such as glasses and gels.
  3. To understand Brownian motion, and the characteristics of diffusion.
  4. Effects of hydrodynamic interactions on the dynamics and their volume fraction dependence.

Suggested Bibliography

  1. Course notes (G. Petekidis).
  2. R. J. Hunter, Foundations of Colloid Science, Oxford University Press, New York, 2001.
  3. W.B. Russel, D.A. Saville, W.R. Schowalter, Colloidal Dispersions, Cambridge University Press, 1989.
  4. Panagiotou, Interfacial phenomena and Colloidal systems, 1998.
  5. D. F. Evans, H. Wennerström, The Colloidal Domain, Where Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Technology Meet, 2nd Edition, John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1999.
  6. R. M. Fitch, "Polymer Colloids, A Comprehensive Introduction", Academic Press, London, 1997.

Related academic journals

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