Polymers and Nanoparticles at Surfaces and Interfaces

We study systematically the behaviour of polymers and nanoparticles at surfaces and interfaces. These systems are of particular interest not only for their fundamental significance for the fields of polymer physics and soft-condensed matter but also for their practical importance in numerous technological applications such as colloidal stability and flocculation, polymer composites and nanocomposites, nonfouling biosurfaces, protective and functional coatings, biocompatibility of medical implants, separations, microfluidics, adhesion, lubrication and friction modification.

Furthermore, we use bottom-up self-assembly and self organisation methodologies from liquid phases to create ultrathin films, monolayers and sub-monolayers of polymers and nanoparticles on surfaces. We aim to develop an inexpensive enabling technology for the directed and controlled fabrication of nanostructures and nanopatterns on surfaces. This platform technology has the potential to revolutionise several industrial and biomedical sectors related to e.g. integrated circuits, nano/microelectromechanical devices, chemical sensors, photonics, biochips and drug delivery. 

The atomic force microscope (AFM) plays a central role in the study of such systems and it is used systematically in our group to investigate the morphological, physicochemical and chemomechanical properties of the nanostructures and nanopatterns at the micro/nanoscale. Other techniques used to characterise the ultrathin films are: contact angle analysis, scanning while light interferometry (SWLI), advanced optical microscopy, electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and ellipsometry.

The experimental studies are complemented by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations (with Dr Philip Camp, Chemistry, UoE). 

PhD students: Michail Kalloudis, Apostolos Evangelopoulos, Alexandros Askounis.