Soft Matter at Interfaces: An Interdisciplinary Field

Soft Matter is omnipresent in daily life including technical applications, medicine, cosmetics and food technology. Our research focuses on interfacial phenomena. We examine the interactions in thin liquid films (foam films and wetting films between two solid interfaces) and at the air/water interface (pure water, and multi-component solutions). Another main focus is on the functionalisation of surfaces via sensitive polymer coatings. This includes preparation and characterisation of nanostructured polymer films with specific response characteristics, and the analysis of structure-property relationship that enables the practical use of such materials for “smart” switches and sensors.