Preface Cite This: Langmuir 2018, 34, 727−728
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Preface to the Early Career Authors in Fundamental Colloid and Interface Science Special Issue e are delighted to introduce the inaugural “Early Career Authors in Fundamental Colloid and Interface Science” special issue of Langmuir. This issue contains invited contributions from 53 international scientists and engineers in the first 10 years of their independent careers, from 12 different countries. These articles describe advances at the forefront of colloidal and interfacial science and embody the essence of this special issue with implications for a broad range of research areas. Topics covered in the studies by early career investigators in this issue include the following: • Nanomaterial Synthesis and Assembly. Routes to control the structure of nanomaterials at multiple length scales underlie fundamental investigations of novel properties at the nanoscale and enable transformational applications. Helgeson, Ghosh, and Tabor describe the development and self-assembly of novel surfactant compounds. Gundlach and Millstone report the preparation of novel nanostructures. Mittal and Pozzo tune intermolecular or interparticle interactions in selfassembly; Cordova-Figueroa, Swan, and Wu combine self- and directed assembly to generate new phases and structures. • Use-Inspired Fundamental Interfacial Science. Multiple contributions in this issue highlight an emerging focus on science driven by societal, industrial, or technological needs. Biswal, Brutin, Dar, Gaharwar, Ghosh, Liu, Luo, Shi, Suzuki, and Varanasi all demonstrate new fundamental insights in colloid and interface science that can potentially benefit applications in oil recovery, forensics, controlled release, 3-D printing, biosensors, wastewater treatment, and desalination. • Biological and Biomimetic Interfaces. Engineered biosystems combined with methods of interfacial physics and chemistry offer new routes by which to quantitatively probe biological function. Conrad and Ghosh engineer biological systems to probe cellular interactions at interfaces. Mukherjee, Peterson, and Yu design synthetic compounds to elucidate biological processes. Finally, Andrieu-Brunsen, Daniel, Deveraj, and Pfaendtner design synthetic compounds that reproduce the properties of biological systems. • Fluid−Fluid Interfaces. The structure of adsorbed species at fluid−fluid interfaces determines their functional properties, as explored in contributions by Cheng, Christopher, and Roke. The articles by Honciuc, Fernandez-Nieves, and Shum use emulsions to test hypotheses in interfacial science. • Surface Interactions and Friction. Interfacial and transport properties depend sensitively on surface interactions. Insight into the role of electrostatics, van der Waals forces, hydration forces, and how the latter are affected by solution conditions are revealed in articles by Khair,
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Valtiner, and Zeng; Espinosa-Marzal and Pesika explore the microscopic mechanisms underlying friction. • Hard−Sof t Nanomaterials. As reported by Fujii, Karg, Garbin, and Isa, soft and hard materials can be coupled to generate new functional properties. These contributions provide new insights into the ways that the different constituents determine overall material properties. • Mechanics of Sof t Materials and Interfaces. The defining characteristic of soft systems is that they exhibit flow properties intermediate between fluid and solid, with thermal fluctuations able to alter the material response. Studies in this issue highlight a central ongoing challenge, connecting microstructure to rheology for these complex-structured materials. Del Gado, Dhar, and Osuji examine the rheological properties of gel networks, phospholipids, and dispersants. • Heterogeneous Nucleation. Surfaces can template and/or nucleate novel phases. Their structure may reflect interactions, whether thermodynamic or kinetic, with the underlying substrate, as explored in contributions from Diao and Sarupria. • New Methods for Probing Interfaces. New methods and techniques offer new opportunities to measure interfacial properties. Sharma and Schneck use interoferometry and neutron reflectometry, respectively, to gain insight into the structure of soft matter. • Responsive Materials. Interfaces that change properties or conformation under different environmental conditions offer new opportunities for encapsulation, antifouling, and controlled release. Lee and Lutkenhaus tune the ionic strength of the surrounding medium as a stimulus to alter material properties. These studies hence highlight themes likely to recur in colloidal and interfacial science: • Bioinspired. Biological systems will continue to stimulate new studies at the interface and inspire the design of new materials. The integration of biological, biophysical, and biochemical methods with techniques from interfacial science is likely to generate a new understanding of the function of biological systems. • Down to the Nanoscale. Transformative advances in applications in plasmonics, (bio)sensing, and controlled release, among others, rely in part on the ability to synthetically control structure across multiple length scales. Methods that reproducibly generate multicomponent materials with structural control at the nanoscale provide building blocks for directed multiscale assembly Special Issue: Early Career Authors in Fundamental Colloid and Interface Science Received: December 22, 2017 Published: January 23, 2018 727
DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.7b04330 Langmuir 2018, 34, 727−728
Preface
Langmuir of materials and offer novel functional capabilities, including the active and responsive behavior characteristic of living systems. • Nonequilibrium Routes to Assembly. Biology exploits outof-equilibrium assembly processes to generate a striking diversity of structures. Assembly routes that exploit competing, nonequilibrium processes will lead to structures and phases unattainable through processes at thermodynamic equilibrium or to functional properties that arise from the response of materials out of equilibrium. We thank the authors for their contributions to this special issue and to the vibrant field of colloid and interfacial science.
Jacinta C. Conrad, Guest Editor University of Houston
Noshir S. Pesika, Guest Editor Tulane University
Daniel K. Schwartz, Senior Editor
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University of Colorado Boulder
AUTHOR INFORMATION
ORCID
Jacinta C. Conrad: 0000-0001-6084-4772 Noshir S. Pesika: 0000-0001-5017-4808 Notes
Views expressed in this editorial are those of the authors and not necessarily the views of the ACS.
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DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.7b04330 Langmuir 2018, 34, 727−728
