Provide the students with the basics to understand:

• surface phenomena
• colloidal stabilization
• surfactant behavior
• techniques used to study surfaces and interfaces (in particular optical techniques)

Physical-chemistry of surfaces and interfaces

• Description of interactions playing a role in interfacial phenomena
• Van der Waals type interactions between macroscopic bodies
• Electrostatic and steric colloidal stabilization
• Basics of thermodynamics of surfaces and interfaces
• Wetting (total and partial)
• Homogeneous nucleation

Techniques to investigate surfaces

• Reflection of light at a perfect interface (Fresnel's laws, evanescent waves)
• Reflection of light by a thin film (matrix method)
• Description of different optical techniques to investigate interfaces
• Measurement of hydrodynamic thickness, differences between optical and hydrodynamic thickness.
• Other techniques (streaming potential, AFM, XRay)

• Acquisition of basics in the field of surfaces (developed and evaluated)
• Capacity to read and understand articles in the field (developed and evaluated)
• Capacity to select the appropriate technique to investigate the surfaces (developed and evaluated)
• Develop critical thinking about data obtained by different techniques (developed)
• Try to develop curiosity (by favoring the lecture of articles)