Polymer Mediated Surface Forces

Martin Turesson

Research output: ThesisDoctoral Thesis (monograph)

Abstract

The issue of controlling the stability between colloidal particles in solution is important, at least for industrial applications,
relying on efficient flocculation or stable dispersions.

The objective of this thesis is to shed some light on fundamental mechanisms behind the interplay between attractive and repulsive forces,
in solutions containing colloids and polymers.

We approach the problem from a theoretical point of view, developing powerful simulation techniques dealing with polymeric systems. In particular we mimic effects of full equilibrium situations, wherein
polymers are allowed to diffuse between a narrow slit and a
surrounding bulk solution.

We observe long ranged electrostatic repulsions in confined
polyelectrolyte solutions, as well as oscillatory surface forces.
This seems to be coupled with a strong polyelectrolyte chain affinity to the surfaces, leading to an appreciable degree of
surface charge inversion.

Effects of increasing the intrinsic chain stiffness are also studied, revealing a crossover between two fundamentally different mechanisms of attraction, namely polymeric bridging and charge-charge correlation.

Hard sphere polymer systems are also investigated with focus on varying
monomer-surface affinities, bulk concentrations and chain architectures.
Original languageEnglish
QualificationDoctor
Awarding Institution
  • Computational Chemistry
Supervisors/Advisors
  • Forsman, Jan, Supervisor
  • Åkesson, Torbjörn, Supervisor
Award date2008 May 22
ISBN (Print)978-97-7422-194-7
Publication statusPublished - 2008

Bibliographical note

Defence details

Date: 2008-05-22
Time: 10:30
Place: Auditorium B, Chemical Center, Lund

External reviewer(s)

Name: Podgornik, Rudi
Title: Prof.
Affiliation: Faculty of mathematics and physics, Ljubljana, Slovenia

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The information about affiliations in this record was updated in December 2015.
The record was previously connected to the following departments: Theoretical Chemistry (S) (011001039)

Subject classification (UKÄ)

  • Theoretical Chemistry

Free keywords

  • Polyelectrolyte Solutions
  • Charge Inversion
  • Monte Carlo Simulations
  • Depletion Stabilization
  • Correlation Attraction
  • Colloid stability

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