Soft Condensed Matter

The physics of soft condensed matter is probably one of the most 'fashionable' areas in the physical sciences today. This book offers a coherent and clear introduction to the properties and behaviour of soft matter. It begins with a treatment of the general underlying principles: the relationof the structure and dynamics of solids and liquids to intermolecular forces, the thermodynamics and kinetics of phase transitions, and the principles of self-assembly. Then the specific properties of colloids, polymers, liquid crystals and self-assembling amphiphilic systems are treated within thisframework. A concluding chapter illustrates how principles of soft matter physics can be used to understand properties of biological systems. The focus on the essentials and the straightforward approach make the book suitable for students with either a theoretical or an experimental bias. The levelis appropriate for final year undergraduates and beginning graduate students in physics, chemistry, materials science, and chemical engineering.

Richard A. L. Jones is Professor of Physics at the University of Sheffield, England.

Introduction and overview

1

(4)

What is soft condensed matter?

1

(1)

Soft matter---an overview

2

(3)

Forces, energies, and timescales in condensed matter

5

(20)

Introduction

5

(1)

Gases, liquids, and solids

5

(5)

Intermolecular forces

5

(3)

Condensation and freezing

8

(2)

Viscous, elastic, and viscoelastic behaviour

10

(6)

The response of matter to a shear stress

10

(3)

Understanding the mechanical response of matter at a molecular level

13

(3)

Liquids and glasses

16

(9)

Practical glass-forming systems

16

(1)

Relaxation time and viscosity in glass-forming liquids

17

(1)

The experimental glass transition

18

(3)

Understanding the glass transition

21

(4)

Phase transitions

25

(24)

Phase transitions in soft matter

25

(1)

Liquid-liquid unmixing---equilibrium phase diagrams

26

(6)

Interfaces between phases and interfacial tension

31

(1)

Liquid-liquid unmixing---kinetics of phase separation

32

(9)

Two mechanisms of phase separation

32

(1)

Spinodal decomposition

33

(4)

Nucleation

37

(1)

Growth in the late stages of phase separation

38

(3)

The liquid-solid transition---freezing and melting

41

(8)

Kinetics of the liquid-solid transition---homogeneous nucleation

42

(2)

Kinetics of the liquid-solid transition---heterogeneous nucleation

44

(1)

Solidification---stability of a growing solidification front

45

(4)

Colloidal dispersions

49

(24)

Introduction

49

(1)

A single colloidal particle in a liquid---Stokes' law and Brownian motion

50

(2)

Stokes' law

50

(1)

Brownian motion and the Einstein equation

50

(2)

Forces between colloidal particles

52

(10)

Interatomic forces and interparticle forces

52

(1)

Van der Waals forces

53

(5)

Electrostatic double-layer forces

58

(2)

Stabilising polymers with grafted polymer layers

60

(1)

Depletion interactions

61

(1)

Stability and phase behaviour of colloids

62

(6)

Crystallisation of hard-sphere colloids

62

(3)

Colloids with longer ranged repulsion

65

(1)

Colloids with weakly attractive interactions

66

(1)

Colloids with strongly attractive interactions

67

(1)

Flow in concentrated dispersions

68

(5)

Polymers

73

(22)

Introduction

73

(1)

The variety of polymeric materials

73

(4)

Polymer chemistry

74

(1)

Stereochemistry

75

(1)

Architecture

76

(1)

Copolymers

76

(1)

Physical state

77

(1)

Random walks and the dimensions of polymer chains

77

(8)

The freely jointed chain and its Gaussian limit

78

(1)

Real polymer chains---short-range correlations

79

(1)

Excluded volume, the theta temperature, and coil-globule transitions

80

(2)

Chain statistics in polymer melts---the Flory theorem

82

(1)

Measuring the size of polymer chains

82

(2)

Polymers at interfaces---adsorbed and grafted chains

84

(1)

Rubber elasticity

85

(1)

Viscoelasticity in polymers and the reptation model

86

(9)

Characterising the viscoelastic behaviour of polymers

86

(2)

Linear viscoelasticity and the Boltzmann superposition principle

88

(1)

The temperature dependence of viscoelastic properties: time-temperature superposition

88

(1)

Viscoelasticity: experimental results for monodisperse linear polymer melts

89

(1)

Entanglements

90

(1)

The tube model and the theory of reptation

91

(2)

Modifications to reptation theory

93

(2)

Gelation

95

(9)

Introduction

95

(1)

Classes of gel

96

(1)

Chemical gels

96

(1)

Physical gels

97

(1)

The theory of gelation

97

(7)

The percolation model

97

(1)

The classical theory of gelation---the Flory-Stockmayer model

98

(2)

Non-classical exponents in the percolation model

100

(1)

The elasticity of gels

100

(4)

Molecular order in soft condensed matter---liquid crystallinity

104

(25)

Introduction

104

(1)

Introduction to liquid crystal phases

105

(2)

The nematic/isotropic transition

107

(4)

Distortions and topological defects in liquid crystals

111

(3)

Generalised rigidity and the elastic constants of a nematic liquid crystal

111

(1)

Boundary effects

112

(1)

Disclinations, dislocations, and other topological defects

113

(1)

The electrical and magnetic properties of liquid crystals

114

(2)

The Frederiks transition and liquid crystal displays

116

(2)

Polymer liquid crystals

118

(11)

Rigid polymers

118

(1)

Helix coil transitions

118

(4)

The isotropic/nematic transition for ideal hard rods

122

(4)

Transitions in real lyotropic systems

126

(1)

Thermotropic liquid crystal phases

126

(3)

Molecular order in soft condensed matter---crystallinity in polymers

129

(7)

Introduction

129

(1)

Hierarchies of structure

129

(2)

Chain-folded crystals

131

(5)

Supramolecular self-assembly in soft condensed matter

136

(23)

Introduction

136

(1)

Self-assembled phases in solutions of amphiphilic molecules

136

(15)

Why oil and water do not mix

136

(1)

Aggregation and phase separation

137

(2)

The aggregation of amphiphilic molecules

139

(3)

Spherical micelles and the CMC

142

(1)

Cylindrical micelles

142

(2)

Bilayers and vesicles

144

(1)

The elasticity and fluctuations of membranes

145

(2)

The phase behaviour of concentrated amphiphile solutions

147

(3)

Complex phases in surfactant solutions and microemulsions

150

(1)

Self-assembly in polymers

151

(8)

Phase separation in polymer mixtures and the polymer/polymer interface

152

(3)

Microphase separation in copolymers

155

(1)

Block copolymer phase diagrams

156

(3)

Soft matter in nature

159

(19)

Introduction

159

(1)

The components and structures of life

160

(1)

Nucleic acids

161

(4)

Proteins

165

(8)

Primary, secondary, and tertiary structure of proteins

165

(2)

Protein folding

167

(3)

Interactions between proteins: misfolding, aggregation, and crystallisation

170

(2)

Protein misfolding, gelation, and amyloidogenesis

172

(1)

Polysaccharides

173

(1)

Membranes

174

(4)

A Some results from statistical mechanics

178

(4)

Entropy and the second law of thermodynamics

178

(1)

Energy, entropy, and temperature

179

(1)

Free energy and the Gibbs function

180

(1)

The chemical potential

181

(1)

B The distribution function of an ideal random walk

182

(3)

Direct enumeration of the statistical weight

182

(1)

Random walks and the diffusion equation

183

(2)

C Answers to selected problems

185

(1)

C Answers to selected problems

185

(4)

Chapter 2

185

(1)

Chapter 3

185

(1)

Chapter 4

186

(1)

Chapter 5

186

(1)

Chapter 6

187

(1)

Chapter 7

187

(1)

Chapter 8

187

(1)

Chapter 9

187

(1)

Chapter 10

188

(1)

Bibliography

189

(4)

Index

193

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Soft Condensed Matter

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials