Invited Paper SS+EM-TuA1
The Effect of Structure on Interfacial Energy

Tuesday, November 1, 2011, 2:00 pm, Room 110

In this talk I will highlight recent result on solid-liquid interfaces where the solid has a nanostructure with a characteristic length scale that is only a few liquid molecule wide. The talk will start with the presentation of a new scanning probe technique able to measure interfacial energy (work of adhesion to be precise) with atomic/molecular resolution. It will then show how surfaces with alternating stripe-like domains a few nanometer thick have a structural component to their work of adhesion that can account for as much as 20% of the total energy. Finally novel self assembly approaches to achieve such surfaces will be discussed.