Abstract
AbstractThe aim of this chapter is to describe and understand the surface energy of solids at different spatial scales. They range from molecular, mesoscopic to macroscopic scales. The impact of the surface topology of the solid/gas interface is also investigated by comparing the results with silica particles and flat surfaces. The grafting of hydrophobic organosilane hexadecyltrichlorosilane ((CH3)15CH2Si(Cl)3, HTS) on Aerosil OX50 silica nanoparticles and flat silica wafers has been performed to control the surface properties of flat and nanoparticles materials. Another option to investigate the effect of surface topology is to compare the surface energy of particles and flat surfaces constituted of the same silica particles. The particles are compressed to produce flat silica surface. Various techniques such as capillary rise, inverse gas chromatography at infinite dilution (IGC), contact angle and atomic force microscopy (AFM) have been employed to compare the surface energy of particles and flat surfaces at different spatial scales. The capillary rise and contact angles refer to macroscopic scale, the AFM to mesoscopic up to nanoscopic scales. The IGC does not directly give an information at a given scale but it is a thermodynamic measurement that may give molecular quantity. The other objectives of this chapter are also to discuss the various theories used to describe the surface energy of a solid and also to analyze the advantages and limits of all the experimental techniques used.KeywordsSurface energySilicaCapillary riseInverse gas chromatography at infinite dilutionContact anglesAFMParticles compression
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