Physical and Colloidal Chemistry

Colloid Chemistry in a nutshell is 'To mix what doesn't mix'. It concerns the study of mixtures of chemically different materials that unmix spontaneously such as water and oil. Some examples of colloidal materials are: aerosols, cement, various composites, dyestuffs, emulsions, foams, foodstuff, ink, paint, paper, pharmaceutical and cosmetic preparations, photographic emulsions, etc. The quality and the applicability of these materials is mainly determined by colloidal physical properties such as particle size and shape and particle interactions. These factors are studied with different experimental physico-chemical methods. To this end the laboratory is well equipped with state of the art instrumentation such as static and dynamic light scattering spectrometers (determination of particle size and shape), electrophoretic light scattering equipment (zeta potential determination) mechanical spectrometers (determination of the reological properties) and several other instruments (tensiometers, refractometers, density measurements, dispersion equipment, ...).