Polymer and colloid science

Colloid and Polymer Science focus on the physical chemistry of soft materials, spanning from the microscopic interactions and assembly of colloids and polymers to the macroscopic behaviour (phase behaviour, dynamics such as rheological properties) of colloidal suspensions and polymer solutions. Examples of such systems are blood, mud, hairgel, yoghurt, or paint, liquid crystals, DNA in the living cell. The traditional picture of these systems a "dirty chemical soup" is no longer true due to spectacular advances in chemical synthesis and microscopy, resulting in clean and well-defined model systems that can are being studied in great detail experimentally as well due to increased theoretical insights. The approach taken here is conceptual, theoretical and quantitative, while experimental examples are often illustrated. Colloidal suspensions and polymer solutions behave like viscous fluids or soft solids and are also called complex fluids. These systems require insights and methods from both chemistry and physics.In this course the student will learn the basic properties of soft condensed matter systems in general. The main theories for describing these systems will be introduced. Furthermore, the student will learn to appreciate the interdisciplinary nature of this subject, which borders on physics, chemistry, and biology.The lectures contain an introduction to the physical chemistry of polymers in solution (random walks, theta collapse, flexibility, persistence length, scaling concepts), phase behaviour and polymers at interfaces This includes knowledge of polymers at interfaces including polymer adsorption and polymers anchored at surfaces. Then colloidal dispersion will be introduced and the key colloidal interactions will be discussed and treated quantitatively. The relation between the interaction and dynamic (diffusion, sedimentation, rheology) and equilibrium properties (structure, phase behaviour, osmotic pressure) will be outlined on the basis of the hard sphere interaction and then extended towards additional attractions and/or repulsions. Description of phase transitions in soft matter systems (liquid-gas, hard-sphere crystallization, isotropic-nematic liquid crystal) will receive ample attention. Interparticle interactions are then treated: electrical double layers, Van der Waals forces, DLVO-theory, and depletion forces. In this course we will discuss the phenomenology interacting many-body systems (virial expansion, distribution functions, Ornstein-Zernike theory, hard-sphere crystallisation). Further extensions to describe colloidal suspensions will be discussed (Debye-Hueckel theory, screening, Poisson-Boltzmann theory, DLVO theory, effective many-body interactions, depletion effect due added polymers). Also liquid crystals (nematic, smectic, columnar phases, Onsager theory), will be covered. Finally, the self-organization of amphiphilic molecules such as surfactants and co-polymers will be introduced.
The goal is to obtain a broad general background into the theories, methods, and models of physical chemistry of soft matter systems, as well as to learn some detailed aspects on topics of current research interest. The perspective will be mainly theoretical, while the topics are very much inspired by experimental research activities at TU/e; connections will be made directly.

At the end of the course the student:

• can quantify the effects of size and molar mass polydispersity of polymers and colloids
• can estimate the size of polymer chains in solution and understands the effects of solvency and concentration
• knows scaling properties of ideal and self-avoiding polymer chains and can calculate the universal scaling exponents in the semi-dilute regime of polymer solutions
• has good working knowledge of thermodynamics, can calculate thermodynamic properties of non-ideal fluids from the virial expansion and has a
• basic understanding of pair correlations and the structure factor of gases, liquids, and crystals
• understands the basics of scattering theory and its application to simple polymer solutions, hard-sphere and sticky sphere fluids, and can calculate macroscopic properties of many-body systems from the thermodynamic equation of state
• knows the main concepts of colloidal interactions including van der Waals forces, electrostatic double layers and ionic screening, and can do calculations within Poisson-Boltzmann and Debye-Hückel theory for charged particles or surfaces in electrolytes and relate colloidal interactions to phase stability
• has a basic knowledge of the structure and properties of liquid crystalline states of matter, is aware of Onsager’s theory for nematic liquid crystals and work with it
• understands what determines phase behaviour in colloidal suspensions and polymer solutions
• can quantify the basic dynamical properties of colloids and polymer solutions and polymer melts
• has insights into what determines self-organisation of amphiphilic structures leading to micelles, vesicles and other association colloids
• can explain the self-propulsion mechanism of active particles and quantitatively describe their motion

BSc Chemical Engineering and Chemistry or similar The course 6E4X0 Physical chemistry or similar is strongly recommended

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