WiSe 2017-2018 Soft Matter v3.0

Liquid crystal nematic phase
Liquid crystal nematic phase
Image Credit: CC
Target audience

Master Program Chemistry (Chemie) and Polymer Science, Course n° 21242.

Lecturers

S-Jun.-Prof. Annabelle Bertin (100%, annabelle.bertin@bam.de)

Language

English.

Credits

5 credits. Course starts on Monday 16.10.2017, 2pm - 6pm, room 23.02.

The lecture will take place only until the Christmas holidays.

It will take place Mondays afternoon for 5 hours from 2 to 7pm.

Mo, 16.10.2017: 2-6 pm
Mo, 23.10.2017: 2-7 pm
Mo, 30.10.2017: no lecture
Mo, 06.11.2017: 2-7 pm
Mo, 13.11.2017: 2-7 pm
Mo, 20.11.2017: 2-7 pm
Mo, 27.11.2017: 2-7 pm
Mo, 04.12.2017: 8am-1pm
Mo, 04.12.2017: 2-7pm
Mo, 11.12.2017: 2-7 pm
Do, 14.12.2017: 8am-1pm
Mo, 18.12.2017: 8am-1pm
Mo, 18.12.2017: 2-7 pm

Exam and students participation

In the frame of the seminars (Übungen), the students will be asked to present one experimental method that is important in the field of Soft Matter (AFM, DLS, Zeta-Potential, Rheology, etc; the talks should be prepared at home).

The exam format will be a talk / ppt presentation about a recent publication (10-15 min) related to at least one of the topics studied during the course followed by 10-15 min questions by the examiner, half on the topic of the publication, half on the lecture in general.

Outline

The topics covered will be:

  • Introduction: What is soft matter? What are the general aspects of soft matter? Why is it important? Soft Matter in the everyday life
  • Amphiphiles: Self-assembly of amphiphiles such as surfactants and block copolymers in bulk and solution (micelles, vesicles)
  • Gels: What is a gel? Percolation theory, Swelling, Applications of (hydro)gels for biomedical applications
  • Colloids
  • Emulsions
  • Foams
  • Liquid crystals
  • Soft Matter in Nature: Biomembranes, artificial cells, etc.
  • Self-healing polymers
  • Shape memory polymers
  • Glass fiber composites
Book recommendations
  1. Introduction to Soft Matter: Synthetic and Biological Self-Assembling Materials, Revised Edition. Author: Ian W. Hamley. Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 2007, ISBN: 978-0-470-51609-6.
  2. Soft Condensed Matter. Author: Richard A. L. Jones. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2002, ISBN: 978-0198505891.
  3. Polymers Physics. Authors: M. Rubinstein, Ralph H. Colby. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2003, ISBN: 978-0198520597.
  4. Lecture notes of the Forschungszentrum Jülich:

33rd IFF Spring School (2002); Soft Matter – Complex Materials on Mesoscopic Scales
35th IFF Spring School (2004); Physics Meets Biology. From Soft Matter to Cell Biology
39th IFF Spring School (2008); Soft Matter – From Synthetic to Biological Materials
42nd IFF Spring School (2011); Macromolecular Systems in Soft- and Living-Matter