This book considers the different concepts of hydrophile-lipophile balance (HLB) of surfactants and solid particles and the main physicochemical properties of surfactant and solid interfaces which are used to definite the hydrophile-lipophile balance. The book comprehensively analyses all interfacial and bulk properties of surfactants used for the determination of HLB (such as interfacial tension, distribution coefficient, adsorption, surface pressure, surfactants solubility, structure characteristics, distribution between heteropolar phases, micellar formation, chromatographic characteristics, phase separation in emulsions, phase inversion temperature, formation of three phase systems).
The central point of the book is the energetic interpretation of the balance, i.e. the hydrophile-lipophile ratio. At the same time the HLB-number systems of Griffin and Davies and other independant methods of the hydrophile-lipophile balance definitions are discussed: PIT, polarity indexes, surfactant affinity difference etc. The possibility of application of the different characteristics of the hydrophile-lipophile balance as a criterion of phase inversion in emulsions and microemulsion systems water-oil-surfactant are considered.
For the first time the different methods of the hydrophile-lilophile balance definition for solid particles in compact and dispersed form are suggested by the author. The use of hydrophile-lipophile characteristics of solid particles as a criterion of phase inversion in emulsion stabilisation and for other applications is discussed.

The Phase Field Crystal (PFC) model incorporates microscopic structural details into a mesoscopic continuum theory. Methods for fast propagation of PFC interfaces are discussed in this book. They can handle a wide range of thermal gradients, supersaturations and supercoolings, including applications such as selective laser melting. The reader will find theoretical treatment in the first half, while the latter half discusses numerical models.

Kinetic Control in Synthesis and Self-Assembly provides a unique overview of the fundamental principles, novel methods and practical applications for researchers across organic synthesis, supramolecular chemistry and materials sciences. The book examines naturally occurring molecular systems in which kinetic processes are more ubiquitous than thermodynamic processes, also exploring the control of reactions and molecular self-assemblies, through kinetic processes, in artificial systems. These methods currently play a crucial role for tuning materials functions. From organic synthesis, to supramolecular assemblies, and from restricted spaces, to material synthesis for hierarchical structures, the book offers valuable coverage for researchers across disciplines. Interesting topics include how to regulate kinetic pathways more precisely, essential molecular design for kinetic traps, and how molecular environments surrounding molecules (i.e., solvent, temperature, and pressure effects) influence kinetic control in reactions and self-assemblies.

There is currently significant interest in exploring and identifying new inorganic solar energy conversion systems based on Earth-abundant non-toxic materials for future sustainable energy applications and technologies. Developments in emergent inorganic absorbers are closely tied to the ability of researchers to correlate and predict device performance from structural and optical properties. The understanding of material structure and bonding and their effect on performance are key to developing guiding principles for design and screening of inorganic photovoltaic materials. Progress toward such understanding is facilitated by state-of-the-art tools for structural and electronic characterisation of semiconductor materials and interfaces, as well as device design and performance analysis. Further insight is provided by computer modelling and simulations. This volume brings together internationally leading scientists working in areas of material design and modelling, structural and electronic characterisation, and device design and performance analysis, to explore and exchange ideas on emerging inorganic thin-film photovoltaics based on Earth abundant non-toxic materials. In this volume, the topics covered include: Indium-free CIGS analogues Bulk and surface characterisation techniques of solar absorbers Novel chalcogenides, pnictides and defect-tolerant semiconductors Materials design and bonding

Corrosion is a degrading material process frequently encountered in engineering structures and components, which may lead to costly and catastrophic failures if not properly and timely addressed. This volume describes a wide spectrum of experimental and analytical studies, which provide a fairly comprehensive account of corrosion manifestations and methodologies for addressing them in structural and industrial design. As such, it is expected to make a valuable reference publication for engineers and scientists interested in the protection of structures and components from harmful and potentially ruinous corrosive action.The collected articles comprising this volume address issues which can be categorised into two main areas. The first is concerned with material science approaches to corrosion, that is, visual or instrumental means of assessing existing behaviour or effectiveness of corrective measures and techniques. The second part of the volume comprises boundary element simulations of cathodic protection schemes for the purpose of predicting and optimising their performance.A number of practical problems are analysed such as: the coating condition on a ballast tank wall; the impressed current cathodic protection of an offshore platform and minimizing a ship's electric and magnetic signature. Topics covered include: Elemental identification; Material loss; Strain fields; Stress corrosion cracking; Corrosion resistance; Fretting corrosion; Contact surface damage; Electrochemical testing; Coating conditions; Cathodic protection; Current density distribution; Pipelines and deep well casings; Electric and magnetic signatures; Coating damage effects; Galvanic corrosion.

Computational Modelling of Nanoparticles highlights recent advances in the power and versatility of computational modelling, experimental techniques, and how new progress has opened the door to a more detailed and comprehensive understanding of the world of nanomaterials. Nanoparticles, having dimensions of 100 nanometers or less, are increasingly being used in applications in medicine, materials and manufacturing, and energy. Spanning the smallest sub-nanometer nanoclusters to nanocrystals with diameters of 10s of nanometers, this book provides a state-of-the-art overview on how computational modelling can provide, often otherwise unobtainable, insights into nanoparticulate structure and properties. This comprehensive, single resource is ideal for researchers who want to start/improve their nanoparticle modelling efforts, learn what can be (and what cannot) achieved with computational modelling, and understand more clearly the value and details of computational modelling efforts in their area of research.

The series Topics in Current Chemistry Collections presents critical reviews from the journal Topics in Current Chemistry organized in topical volumes. The scope of coverage is all areas of chemical science including the interfaces with related disciplines such as biology, medicine and materials science. The goal of each thematic volume is to give the non-specialist reader, whether in academia or industry, a comprehensive insight into an area where new research is emerging which is of interest to a larger scientific audience. Each review within the volume critically surveys one aspect of that topic and places it within the context of the volume as a whole. The most significant developments of the last 5 to 10 years are presented using selected examples to illustrate the principles discussed. The coverage is not intended to be an exhaustive summary of the field or include large quantities of data, but should rather be conceptual, concentrating on the methodological thinking that will allow the non-specialist reader to understand the information presented. Contributions also offer an outlook on potential future developments in the field. The chapters "Ionic Liquid-Liquid Chromatography: A New General Purpose Separation Methodology", "Proteins in Ionic Liquids: Current Status of Experiments and Simulations", "Lewis Acidic Ionic Liquids" and "Quantum Chemical Modeling of Hydrogen Bonding in Ionic Liquids" are available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

Advances in Biomembranes and Lipid Self-Assembly, Volume 28, formerly titled Advances in Planar Lipid Bilayers and Liposomes, provides a global platform for the study of cell membranes, lipid model membranes, and lipid self-assemblies, from the micro- to the nanoscale. Planar lipid bilayers are widely studied due to their ubiquity in nature. This book presents research on their application in the formulation of biomimetic model membranes, and in the design of artificial dispersion of liposomes. Moreover, the book discusses how lipids self-assemble into a wide range of other structures, including micelles and the liquid crystalline hexagonal and cubic phases. Chapters in this volume present both original research and comprehensive reviews written by world leading experts and young researchers.

This book studies the dynamics of fundamental collective excitations in quantum materials, focusing on the use of state-of-the-art ultrafast broadband optical spectroscopy. Collective behaviour in solids lies at the origin of several cooperative phenomena that can lead to profound transformations, instabilities and phase transitions. Revealing the dynamics of collective excitations is a topic of pivotal importance in contemporary condensed matter physics, as it provides information on the strength and spatial distribution of interactions and correlation. The experimental framework explored in this book relies on setting a material out-of-equilibrium by an ultrashort laser pulse and monitoring the photo-induced changes in its optical properties over a broad spectral region in the visible or deep-ultraviolet. Collective excitations (e.g. plasmons, excitons, phonons...) emerge either in the frequency domain as spectral features across the probed range, or in the time domain as coherent modes triggered by the pump pulse. Mapping the temporal evolution of these collective excitations provides access to the hierarchy of low-energy phenomena occurring in the solid during its path towards thermodynamic equilibrium. This methodology is used to investigate a number of strongly interacting and correlated materials with an increasing degree of internal complexity beyond conventional band theory.

As the title suggests, we introduce a novel differential approach to solution thermodynamics and use it for the study of aqueous solutions. We evaluate the quantities of higher order derivative than the normal thermodynamic functions. We allow these higher derivative data speak for themselves without resorting to any model system. We thus elucidate the molecular processes in solution, (referred to in this book "mixing scheme"), to the depth equal to, if not deeper, than that gained by spectroscopic and other methods. We show that there are three composition regions in aqueous solutions of non-electrolytes, each of which has a qualitatively distinct mixing scheme. The boundary between the adjacent regions is associated with an anomaly in the third derivatives of G. The loci of the anomalies in the temperature-composition field form the line sometimes referred as "Koga line." We then take advantage of the anomaly of a third derivative quantity of 1-propanol in the ternary aqueous solution, 1-propanol - sample species - H2O. We use its induced change as a probe of the effect of a sample species on H2O. In this way, we clarified what a hydrophobe, or a hydrophile, and in turn, an amphiphile, does to H2O. We also apply the same methodology to ions that have been ranked by the Hofmeister series. We show that the kosmotropes (salting out, or stabilizing agents) are either hydrophobes or hydration centres, and that chaotropes (salting in, or destablizing agents) are hydrophiles.
- A new differential approach to solution thermodynamics
- A particularly clear elucidation of the mixing schemes in aqueous solutions
- A clear understandings on the effects of hydrophobes, hydrophiles, andamphiphiles to H2O
- A clear understandings on the effects of ions on H2O in relation to the Hofmeister effect
- A new differential approach to studies in muti-component aqueous solutions

Computer simulation techniques are now having a major impact on almost all areas of the physical and biological sciences. This book concentrates on the application of these methods to inorganic materials, including topical and industrially relevant systems including zeolites and high Tc superconductors.
The central theme of the book is the use of modern simulation techniques as a structural tool in solid state science. Computer Modelling in Inorganic Crystallography describes the current range of techniques used in modeling crystal structures, and strong emphasis is given to the use of modeling in predicting new crystal structures and refining partially known structures. It also reviews new opportunities being opened up by electronic structure calculation and explains the ways in which these techniques are illuminating our knowledge of bonding in solids.
Key Features
* Includes a thorough review of the technical basis of relevant contemporary methodologies including minimization, Monte-Carlo, molecular dynamics, simulated annealing methods, and electronic structure methods
* Highlights applications to amorphous and crystalline solids
* Surveys simulations of surface and defect properties of solids
* Discusses applications to molecular and inorganic solids

This volume explores how ionic liquids are used in different areas of biotechnology. It also provides insights on the interaction of ionic liquids with biomolecules and biomaterials. Ionic liquids have become essential players in the fields of synthesis, catalysis, extraction and electrochemistry, and their unique properties have opened a wide range of applications in biotechnology. Readers will discover diverse examples of the application of ionic liquids as solvents for biomaterials extraction and pretreatment, in enzymatic and whole cell catalysed reaction, and as activation agents for biocatalysis. Particular attention is given to the biologically functionalized ionic liquids employed in medical and pharmaceutical applications. Although ionic liquids are considered "green solvents", the contributing authors will also explore their environmental impact when applied to biotechnology. Chemical, biological and medical scientists interested in ionic liquids and biotechnology will find this work instructive and informative.

This thesis offers a unique guide to the development and application of ultrasensitive optical microscopy based on light scattering. Divided into eight chapters, it covers an impressive range of scientific fields, from basic optical physics to molecular biology and synthetic organic chemistry. Especially the detailed information provided on how to design, build and implement an interferometric scattering microscope, as well as the descriptions of all instrumentation, hardware interfacing and image processing necessary to achieve the highest levels of performance, will be of interest to researchers now entering the field.

This book provides a modern and easy-to-understand introduction to the chemical equilibria in solutions. It focuses on aqueous solutions, but also addresses non-aqueous solutions, covering acid-base, complex, precipitation and redox equilibria. The theory behind these and the resulting knowledge for experimental work build the foundations of analytical chemistry. They are also of essential importance for all solution reactions in environmental chemistry, biochemistry and geochemistry as well as pharmaceutics and medicine. Each chapter and section highlights the main aspects, providing examples in separate boxes. Questions and answers are included to facilitate understanding, while the numerous literature references allow students to easily expand their studies.

This thesis uses a systems-level approach to study the cellular metabolism, unveiling new mechanisms and responses that were impossible to reach with traditional reductionists procedures. The results reported here have a potential application in areas like metabolic engineering and disease treatment. They could also be used in determining the accuracy of the gene essentiality of new genome-scale reconstructions. Different methods and techniques, within the contexts of Systems Biology and the field known as Complex Networks Analysis have been applied in this work to show different features of the robustness of metabolic networks. The specific issues addressed here range from pure topological aspec ts of the networks themselves to the balance of biochemical fluxes.

One of the few textbooks in the field, this volume deals with several aspects of the dynamics of colloids. A self-contained treatise, it fills the gap between research literature and existing books for graduate students and researchers. For readers with a background in chemistry, the first chapter contains a section on frequently used mathematical techniques, as well as statistical mechanics.

Some of the topics covered include:

- diffusion of free particles on the basis of the Langevin equation

-the separation of time, length and angular scales;

- the fundamental Fokker-Planck and Smoluchowski equations derived for interacting particles

- friction of spheres and rods, and hydrodynamic interaction of spheres (including three body interactions)

- diffusion, sedimentation, critical phenomena and phase separation kinetics

- experimental light scattering results.

For universities and research departments in industry this textbook makes vital reading.

Advances in Biomembranes and Lipid Self-Assembly, Volume 27, formerly titled Advances in Planar Lipid Bilayers and Liposomes, provides a global platform for a broad community of experimental and theoretical researchers studying cell membranes, lipid model membranes, and lipid self-assemblies from the micro- to the nanoscale. The assortment of chapters in this volume represents both original research and comprehensive reviews written by world leading experts and young researchers, with topics of note in this release including TiO2 Nanomaterials as Electrochemical Biosensors for Cancer, the Reconstitution of Ion Channels in Planar Lipid Bilayers: New Approaches, and Shear-Induced Lamellar/Onion Transition in Surfactant Systems.

This book presents the fundamentals and the state of the art of the photophysics of molecular oxygen. The author examines optical transitions between the lowest-lying electronic states in molecular oxygen and how these transitions respond to perturbation, either from an organic molecule or from the plasmon field of a metal nanoparticle. We live on a planet filled with light and oxygen. The interaction between these two components forms the basis of excited state chemistry spanning the fields of synthetic organic chemistry, materials chemistry, molecular biology, and photodynamic treatment of cancer. Still, the fundamental ways in which oxygen is affected by light is an active subject of research and is continually being developed and rationalized. In this book, readers will learn that singlet oxygen, the excited state of oxygen that exhibits unique chemical reactivity, can be selectively made via direct optical excitation of oxygen in a sensitizer-free system. Readers will also discover that this approach can perturb living cells differently depending on the singlet oxygen "dose".

This thesis investigates the combustion chemistry of cyclohexane, methylcyclohexane, and ethylcyclohexane on the basis of state-of-the-art synchrotron radiation photoionization mass spectrometry experiments, quantum chemistry calculations, and extensive kinetic modeling. It explores the initial decomposition mechanism and distribution of the intermediates, proposes a novel formation mechanism of aromatics, and develops a detailed kinetic model to predict the three cycloalkanes' combustion properties under a wide range of conditions. Accordingly, the thesis provides an essential basis for studying much more complex cycloalkanes in transport fuels and has applications in engine and fuel design, as well as emission control.

Spin Resonance Spectroscopy: Principles and Applications presents the principles, recent advancements and applications of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) in a single multi-disciplinary reference. Spin resonance spectroscopic techniques through NMR and EPR are widely used by chemists, physicists, biologists and medicinal chemists. This book addresses the need for new spin resonance spectroscopy content while also presenting the principles, recent advancements and applications of NMR and EPR simultaneously. Ideal for researchers and students alike, the book provides a single source of NMR and EPR applications using a dynamic, holistic and multi-disciplinary approach.

This book offers a comprehensive overview of thermodynamics. It is divided into four parts, the first of which equips readers with a deeper understanding of the fundamental principles of thermodynamics of equilibrium states and of their evolution. The second part applies these principles to a series of generalized situations, presenting applications that are of interest both in their own right and in terms of demonstrating how thermodynamics, as a theory of principle, relates to different fields. In turn, the third part focuses on non-equilibrium configurations and the dynamics of natural processes. It discusses both discontinuous and continuous systems, highlighting the interference among non-equilibrium processes, and the nature of stationary states and of fluctuations in isolated systems. Lastly, part four introduces the relation between physics and information theory, which constitutes a new frontier in fundamental research. The book includes step-by-step exercises, with solutions, to help readers to gain a fuller understanding of the subjects, and also features a series of appendices providing useful mathematical formulae. Reflecting the content of modern university courses on thermodynamics, it is a valuable resource for students and young scientists in the fields of physics, chemistry, and engineering.