Surfaces and Interfaces

Aim

The course gives a general introduction to surfaces; their structure and physical-chemical properties, and interfaces between solids and organic materials or liquids. This includes hard surfaces (crystalline and amorphous), soft matter surfaces (polymers and molecular films), free liquid surfaces and their interfaces, and colloidal systems. The course introduces analytical techniques for studies of surfaces, interfaces, thin films and colloids. After the course the student should be able to:

• Understand and describe properties of free liquid surfaces, such as surface tension, capillarity, wetting and spreading.
• Understand and describe electrical phenomena at surfaces, such as surface charge, surface potential, the electrical double layer, and basic electrochemical concepts.
• Describe the phase behaviour and aggregation of amphiphiles in solution and at interfaces.
• Desribe intermolecular forces, forces acting between molecules and surfaces, and surface forces.
• Describe common crystal structures of solid materials and understand the arrangement of atoms in surfaces made from such crystals.
• Describe the mechanisms that control the formation of overlayer structures on single crystal surfaces and classify such overlayer structures.
• Describe the shape and properties of common adsorption isoterms, and apply them for extraction of termodynamic or physicochemical data.
• Desribe the function and principles for common methods and instruments for surface and thin film analysis, as well as explain and interpret the information that can be obtained from these techniques.
• Desribe methods for the preparation and characterization of thin organic films on surfaces, in particular self-assembled monolayers.
• Describe and understand fundamental properties of colloidal systems, and methods for studies of such systems.

Content

Surface phases, surface energy, surface tension, surface excess. Free liquid surfaces, capillarity, Laplace' and Kelvin's equations. Wetting, contact angles, Young's equation. Surface charge, electrical double layer, Zeta potential. Amphiphilic aggregation and phase behaviour. Adsorption to liquid interfaces, Gibb's isotherm. Forces between molecules and between molecular systems and surfaces. Colloids and colloidal stability. The structure and properties of molecular films; preparation strategies, thermodynamically and kinetically controlled processes, surface modification, self-assembled monolayers. Hard materials and surfaces, the structure of surfaces, the surface chemical bond, physisorption, chemisorption. Adsorption, adsorption kinetics and isotherms, surface reactions. Analytical methods for analysis of surfaces, interfaces and colloids.