Understanding the structural and thermodynamic properties of surfaces, interfaces, and membranes is important for both fundamental and practical reasons. Complex fluids and solids, important in the development of new materials, cannot be designed using trial and error methods due to the multiplicity of components and parameters. While these materials can sometimes be analyzed in terms of microscopic mixtures, it is often conceptually simpler to regard them as dispersions and to focus on the properties of the internal interfaces found in these systems. The basic physics centers on the properties of quasi-two-dimensional systems embedded in the three-dimensional world, thus exhibiting phenomena that do not exist in bulk materials. This approach is the basis behind the theoretical presentation of Statistical Thermodynamics of Surfaces, Interfaces, and Membranes. The approach adapted presents the traditional approach and then investigates throughout to treat the rich diversity of phenomena investigated in the field of colloid and interface science such as interfacial tension, the roughening transition, wetting, interactions between surfaces, membrane elasticity, and self-assembly. Presented as a set of lecture notes, this book is aimed at physicists, physical chemists, chemical engineers, and materials scientists who are interested in the statistical mechanics that underlie the macroscopic, thermodynamic properties of surfaces, interfaces, and membranes. NOTE: Each Part begins with an Introduction, and ends with Problems and References.

Mixtures and Interfaces

Complex Materials and Interfaces

Review of Classical Statistical Mechanics

Phase Separation in Binary Mixtures

Differential Geometry of Surfaces

Review of Hydrodynamics

Interfacial Tension

Free Energy of Surfaces and Interfaces

Surface/Interfacial Tension Theory

Surface-Active Agents

Fluctuations of Interfaces

Free Energy of a Fluctuating Interface

Thermal Fluctuations of Interfaces

Capillary Instabilities of Interfaces

Roughening Transition of Solid Surfaces

Wetting of Interfaces

Equilibrium

Long-Range Interactions: Macroscopic Theory

Fluctuations of the Contact Line

Equilibrium: Microscopic Description

Dynamics of Wetting

Interactions of Rigid Interfaces

Molecular Interactions

Van der Waals Interaction Energies

Continuum Theory of van der Waals Forces

Electrostatic Interactions

Solute-Induced Interactions

Flexible Interfaces

Fluid Membranes and Surfactants

Curvature Elasticity of Fluid Membranes

Curvature Moduli

Fluctuations of Fluid Membranes

Interactions of Fluid Membranes

Colloidal Dispersions

Dispersions of Interacting Particles

Colloid interactions: DLVO Theory

Long-Range Electrostatic Interactions

Steric Interactions: Polymer Adsorption

Structure of Colloidal Aggregates

Self-Absorbing Interfaces

Micelles

Vesicles

Microemulsions

Spongelike and Bicontinuous Phases