Soft materials are systems whose bond energies between constituents are comparable to thermal energy. They include colloids, polymers and liquid crystals.
The course is aimed to provide an introduction to the study of soft matter, which is characterized by weak interactions between nano-sized building blocks and important effects of thermal fluctuations.
Acquiring knowledge on the characteristic features of soft materials, the forces acting in these systems, the physical models which describe their behavior.
Traditional lessons (48 h)
Intermolecular forces – Hydrophobic interaction – Surface tension – Van der Waals forces between particles and surfaces – Electrostatic forces between surfaces in liquid: the Poisson-Botzmann equation; the Grahame equation; the Debye length – Colloids – DLVO interaction and stability of a colloidal suspension – Brownian motion – Polymers – Polymer models: freely jointed chain, worm-like chain – Thermodynamic principles of molecular self-assembly – Micelles, liposomes, planar bilayers, mesophases – Liquid crystals – The Frederiks transition and the liquid crystal display – Soft matter and biological molecules.
• Israelachvili J. Intermolecular and Surface Forces, 2011 Academic Press - Elsevier
• Jones, R. A. Soft condensed matter, 2002 Oxford University Press
• Berg, J.C. An introduction to interfaces and colloids - The bridge to nanoscience. 2010 World Scientific
• Rubinstein M., Colby R. H., Polymer physics, Oxford University Press, 2010
• Chaikin P. M., Lubensky T. C., Principles of condensed matter Physics, 1997 Cambridge University Press
• Phillips, R., Kondev, J., Theriot, J., Physical Biology of the Cell, 2009 Garland Science.
Ricevimento: At the end of every lesson or on request
Second semester - Class schedules will be available at https://dida.fisica.unige.it/dida/i-corsi-di-fisica-a-genova/laurea-magistrale-lm-17/orario-delle-lezioni.html
Oral exam
The oral exam is always conducted by the professor who is responsible for the course and by another expert in the subject (usually another professor). The oral exam takes about 50 minutes and it consists of a fixed number of questions (the same for all students) on the course topics. It allows the commission to assess the student's understanding of the course topics and the student's ability to discern the validity limits of the models used.
