Department of Physics

10ΕΚ503 Soft Matter Physics

Course webpage:   https://eclass.uoa.gr/courses/PHYS226

Course outline

Course content

• What is soft matter. Intermolecular interactions. Interfaces.
• Mesophasesς. Mesogens. Order. Disclinations. Elasticity. Anchoring. Phase transitions. Physical properties. Fredericks transition. Liquid crystal displays.
• Amphiphiles. Micelles. Shape factor. Supramolecular organization. Membranes. Vesicles. Curvature elasticity.
• Solutions. Electrolytes. Double layer. Screening potential. Poisson-Boltzmann theory. Debye-Huckel approximation.
• Colloids. Brown motion. Langevin equation. DLVO theory. Stabilization. Aggregation kinetics. Osmotic pressure with interactions. Electrokinetic effects.
• Polymers-macromolecules. Chain models. Energy. Entropy. Radius of gyration. Kahn length. Persistence length. Flory - Huggens theory. θ-temperature. Self-avoidance. Self-similarity. Flory exponents. Proteins. Coil-globule and helix-coil transitions.