Complex Materials and Interfaces

The simplest example of such a system is the interface between a semiinfinite, bulk system and vacuum (or its own dilute, vapor phase) this interface is generally referred to as a surface. When this semi-infinite material coexists with another condensed phase, the separating surface is referred to as an 

Finally, an even richer set of phenomena and applications is related to the behavior of self-assembling colloids as shown in Fig. 1.4. In such systems, generally composed (soaplike) molecules in solution, the colloidal 

In addition to short-chain ( 20 hydrocarbon groups) surfactants, long-chain polymers can sometimes show surfactant-like behavior. Examples of 

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In this chapter, we begin with some remarks on the technological and scientific importance of complex materials and interfaces and motivate the study of interface and surface properties. We then review some of the physical and mathematical methods that are used in the subsequent discussions of interface and membrane statistical thermodynamics. Many of these topics are discussed more fully in the references and throughout this chapter. We begin with a review of classical statistical mechanics ", including a description of fluctuations about equilibrium and of binary mixtures. The mathematical description of an interface is then presented (using only vector calculus) and the calculation of the area and curvature of an interface wifli an arbitrary shape is demonstrated. Finally, the chapter is concluded by a brief summary of hydrodynamics. ... 

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