Colloids and the Depletion Interaction

This open access book provides a detailed exploration of the phase behaviour of, and interfacial properties in, complex colloidal mixtures (e.g., clay, milk, blood). Insights into colloids have been at the heart of many innovations in different industries. The big question underlying these innovations is how can colloidal systems be formulated and designed towards the desired properties? To do this, the forces between the colloidal particles need to be controlled. Adding depletants (non-adsorbing polymers or small colloids) is key to controlling the attractive interactions. Colloids and the Depletion Interaction provides the qualitative insights and quantitative tools to understand and predict such forces in colloidal dispersions. It offers a concise introduction to the history and fundamentals of the depletion interaction in, and phase behaviour of, colloidal dispersions.

Why does adding polymers lead to attractive forces between colloidal particles? What determines the phase stability of multi-component colloidal systems? These include colloid―polymer mixtures, binary colloidal mixtures, and anisotropic particles such as clay platelets, cubes and rod-like viruses. Conceptual explanations are accompanied by experimental and computer simulation results throughout. Illustrations of depletion effects in colloid science, biology and technology demonstrate its wider significance. The concluding outlook provides the scope of challenges and possibilities in this exciting field of science.

This second updated and enlarged edition contains 12 Chapters. It is an ideal book for advanced undergraduates and graduate students in physical chemistry, chemical engineering and soft matter physics. Besides providing a fundamental understanding of depletion interactions in colloidal mixtures, it gives background information on colloidal stability and phase behaviour in general. For experienced scientists and engineers working on mixtures of colloids and non-adsorbing (bio)polymers or colloidal particles, this book serves as a reference for understanding depletion interactions in systems of their specific interest.

Henk N.W. Lekkerkerker (1946) studied chemistry at Utrecht University (the Netherlands) and obtained his doctorate at the University of Calgary (Canada) in 1971. He then moved to Brussels initially as a postdoctoral fellow at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium) and subsequently became a professor of Theoretical Physical Chemistry at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. From 1985 till 2011, he has been a professor of Physical Chemistry at the Van 't Hoff Laboratory, Utrecht University, and from 2006-2011 he was also Academy Professor of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. He received for his work on the phase behaviour of colloidal dispersions  the following awards: Bourke Award, Royal Society of Chemistry (1993), Onsager Medal, Norwegian University of Science and Technology Trondheim(1999), Solvay Award, European Colloid and Interface Society (2003), Bakhuis Roozeboom Gold Medal, Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences (2003), Liquid Matter Prize .European Physical Society (2008), Lennard Jones Award, Statistical Mechanics and Thermodynamics Group of the Royal Society of Chemistry (2011), Overbeek Gold medal, European Colloid and Interface Society (2018).  

Remco Tuinier (1971) studied food science at Wageningen University (the Netherlands) and performed his PhD work at the NIZO food research institute and Wageningen University on colloid–polymer mixtures. Subsequently, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Van 't Hoff Laboratory, Utrecht University and in 2001 became a staff member at the Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany. From 2008 to 2015, he worked at DSM Research, Geleen, the Netherlands, as a senior and principal scientist of colloids and interfaces. Since 2013, he has been a part-time professor at Utrecht University. In 2015, he became a full professor of physical chemistry at Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands. Remco Tuinier is a member of the IACIS council, chairman of the board of the Overbeek foundation and Editorial Advisory Board member of The Journal of Chemical Physics.

Mark Vis (1988) studied chemistry at Utrecht University (the Netherlands). He obtained his PhD at the Van 't Hoff Laboratory, Utrecht University in 2015 on the thermodynamics of incompatible aqueous polymer mixtures, also known as water-in-water emulsions. In 2016, he joined the Physical Chemistry group at Eindhoven University of Technology as a postdoc and became an assistant professor in 2019. His main research interests are colloid–polymer and polymer–polymer mixtures, with a particular focus on interfaces, synchrotron scattering, and aqueous systems.