Interfacial Forces
Interfacial forces of polyelectrolytes and polymers
Initially studying effects of electrolytes and surfactants. Later, surface forces induced by polymers and polyelectrolytes became the main topic, then mixtures of polyelectrolytes and surfactants were also studied. Such systems are complex and changes in polyelectrolyte structure can result in dramatic changes in self-assembly and interfacial properties. A fascinating and industrially important aspect of many of these systems is that non-equilibrium effects are important since polyelectrolyte-surfactant mixtures are prone to be trapped in non-equilibrium states
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Nanomechanical mapping
With modern scanning probe methods one can do much more than studying topography, for instance images showing variations in surface deformation, tip-sample adhesion and electrical conductivity can be recorded simultaneously as the topography. This is ideal and allow us to understand nanocomposites also on the nanometer level. I have used such techniques to gain understanding on e.g. paper coatings and conductive polymer composites for corrosion protection.