Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference:	GR/L37533/01
Title:	THE DIRECT DETERMINATION OF INTERCOLLOIDAL FORCES
Principal Investigator:	Bartlett, Professor P
Other Investigators:
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
Department:	Chemistry
Organisation:	University of Bath
Scheme:	Standard Research (Pre-FEC)
Starts:	01 January 1998	Ends:	01 August 2000	Value (£):	146,642
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:	Complex fluids & soft solids
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:	No relevance to Underpinning Sectors
Related Grants:
Panel History:
Summary on Grant Application Form
The aim of this proposal is to measure the forces that act between individual colloidal particles. A highly focused infra-red laser beam will be used to apply sub-piconewton forces to a single colloidal particle, trapped in the force field of a second fixed particle. The subsequent motion of the free particle will be measured with nanometer-level resolution. The key advantage of this technique is that forces are measured directly between microscopic particles rather than macroscopic surfaces. This has two consequences: first, it eliminates the uncertainty in extrapolating surface forces from experiments on flat plates which may have a different surface chemistry, and second interactions may be studied between, for example, deformable drops where no equivalent microscopic surface exists. The new capabilities of this technique will be used to address three specific problems where our understanding is limited by current techniques. First, the interaction between emulsion drops; second, the forces between solid colloidal particles in concentrated surfactant phases and finally the nature of intercolloidal forces in polymer solutions.The scientific challenge of this project is to understand intercolloidal forces in complex multicomponent systems. The motivation is the industrial need to understand and tailor these forces in the wide-spectrum of colloid-containing products.
Key Findings
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Organisation Website:	http://www.bath.ac.uk