Contact angle hysteresis can be measured with optical (needle and tilting methods) and force (Wilhelmy method) tensiometers.
Interfacial tension of insulating liquids against water has been used for a long time as a criterion for aging evaluation. The latest revision for the ASTM D971 standard dates back to 2012. The new IEC standard is about the be released to improve the accuracy of the method.
There are several ways to deposit nanoparticles. Most methods are able to coat the surface, but for controlled monolayer deposition, more sophisticated methods are needed.
The versatility of polyelectrolyte multilayers, PEMs, is high, which makes them interesting for e.g. biomedical applications. The functionality is largely determined by the layer properties, which needs to be understood to be tailored. Here, we show how PEMs can be characterized with QCM-D.
Contact angle hysteresis (CAH) is an important physical phenomenon. When you look through the window on a rainy day, you have probably noticed that some of the water droplets stick to the glass even though gravity is pulling them down. The phenomenon can be explained by contact angle hysteresis.
Surfactants are used in many industrial fields. Characterization of surfactants is thus important to optimize their performance and the products they are applied to. Surface and interfacial tension measurements offer versatile method to study the properties and behavior of the surfactant solution.
QCM-D and ellipsometry are two surface sensitive real-time technologies that can be used in combination to give synergistic effects. To make to most of the combined output data, there are some aspects to consider when setting up the combined experiment and when analyzing the captured data.
Contact angles are routinely measured as they offer simple, yet extremely sensitive measurement method for surface characterization. Although, the static contact angle is an excellent tool, more in-depth understanding of the surface properties require dynamic contact angle measurements.
The mass extracted by QCM-D and ellipsometry are often not the same. Read about what the difference is between these masses, and why they are not equal.