Surfaces and Colloids

Oral Qualifying Exam - Surfaces and Colloids

 

SUGGESTED TEXTS: 

•  Arthur W. Adamson and Alice P. Gast, Physical Chemistry of Surfaces, 6^th edition, Wiley, New York, 1997. 
• Gabor A. Somorjai, Surface Chemistry and Catalysis, Wiley, New York, 1994 
• Robert J. Stokes and D. Fennell Evans, Fundamentals of Interfacial Engineering, Wiley-VCH, New York, 1997. 
• Jacob N. Israelachvili, Intermolecular and Surface Forces, 2^nd ed., Academic Press, New York, 1991. 
  
  

LEVEL (based on UIUC courses): MATSE 480 

NONEXHAUSTIVE LIST OF TOPICS: 

1. Surface structure: reconstruction, relaxation - molecular orientation - how to measure surface structure? 
2. Surface thermodynamics: molecular origin of surface energy - Gibbs dividing surface - surface excess functions - Gibbs adsorption equation - other implications 
3. Curved surfaces: capillary pressure: the Young-Laplace equation - vapor pressure: the Kelvin equation - implications: nanoparticles, adhesion, etc. 
4. Physisorption, chemisorption: physisorption versus chemisorption - adsorption isotherms - internal interfaces: critical micelle concentration 
5. Varieties of inter-particle forces: Scale-up from molecules to larger particles - van der Waals, electrostatic, "structured liquids" 
6. Structured liquids (polymers; surfactants; self-assembly; liquid structure).