Surface Science Blog You have only scratched the surface.

Susanna Laurén

Susanna Laurén

Susanna is an Application Scientist at Biolin Scientific. In her PhD thesis, she developed fabrication methods for a new type of inorganic-organic polymers. Microfabricated polymer chips were utilized as tool for biomolecule separation in analytical chemistry.

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~ 3 min

What is graphene oxide?

Graphene oxide (GO) is the oxidized form of graphene. Graphene oxide is easy to process since it is dispersible in water and other solvents. Due to the oxygen in its lattice graphene oxide is not conductive, but it can be reduced to graphene by chemical methods.

> 2 min

What is surface free energy?

Surface free energy can be considered as the surface tension of a solid. Surface free energy is calculated through the contact angle measurements. By knowing the surface free energy of the solid, one can predict the behavior of any liquid on the surface.

< 3 min

What does self-cleaning mean?

A self-cleaning surface is any surface with the ability to readily remove any dirt or bacteria on it. Self-cleaning surfaces can be divided into three different categories; superhydrophilic, photocatalytic and superhydrophobic.

> 2 min

Why is contact angle important?

In industry, wettability is important for example when manufacturing electronics or when planning how to extract oil from the oil reservoir. In all these applications, knowing the contact angle value gives a strong indication on the performance of the product or a successfulness of the process.

~ 4 min

What are the differences between ASTM D971 and IEC 62961 standards?

The new standard IEC 62961 for the transformer oil quality testing has just been released. In this blog post, the main differences between the old ASTM D971 and the new IEC 62961 standard are discussed.

> 3 min

How to measure contact angle hysteresis?

The measurement methods can be divided into optical (needle and tilting methods) and force (Wilhelmy method) depending on the measurement principle used. All the methods are measuring advancing and receding contact angles which are used to calculate contact angle hysteresis.

~ 1 min

Are you prepared for the new transformer oil quality standard?

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.

> 2 min

What is contact angle hysteresis?

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.

< 3 min

How to characterize surfactant solutions?

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.

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