Surface and interfacial phenomena as a research area encompass the study of physical, chemical, and physicochemical processes occurring at phase boundaries, including solid–liquid, solid–gas, liquid–gas, and liquid–liquid interfaces. This field investigates adsorption, wetting, adhesion, capillarity, surface tension, interfacial rheology, and related equilibrium and non-equilibrium behaviors. It integrates thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, spectroscopy, microscopy, and simulation to elucidate structure–property relationships at interfaces. Research in this area underpins advances in catalysis, colloid and dispersion stability, electrochemistry, nanomaterials, biomembranes, microfluidics, and advanced coatings, with emphasis on how interfacial structure, composition, and energetics govern macroscopic material performance and functionality.
Why does water roll off a duck's back but spread on clean glass? For macroscopic (millimeter-scale) drops, this behavior can be explained using continuum theory. However, when nanoscale (10–9 mm) droplets spread on surfaces, ...
Nanophysics
Jun 19, 2026
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27
Artificial cells created in the laboratory offer a wide range of potential applications. Until now, however, their membranes—unlike those of real cells—have been virtually impermeable. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute ...
Bio & Medicine
Jun 16, 2026
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11
A new technology allows metal circuits floating on water to be transferred directly onto any desired surface. A South Korean research team has introduced a novel technique capable of transferring ultra-fine nanocircuits onto ...
Nanomaterials
Jun 15, 2026
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52
Engineers often treat impurities as a problem to eliminate to improve material performance. But new research from Osaka Metropolitan University and Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials IWM suggests that in some ...
Nanomaterials
Jun 14, 2026
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22
A research team in Bochum, Germany has unexpectedly found that light can slow down movements in the nanoworld. This is due to quantum friction, a phenomenon that has been poorly understood until now. The findings are published ...
Nanophysics
Jun 11, 2026
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42
Wearable and implantable biosensors have the potential to revolutionize health care by diagnosing, monitoring, and even treating a wide range of health conditions. Recent innovations in the lab of Wei Gao, professor of medical ...
Biotechnology
Jun 10, 2026
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20
Researchers have demonstrated the ability to use van der Waals forces to tune the physical and electronic properties of ferroelectric thin films. The work opens the door to new techniques for engineering materials for use ...
Nanophysics
Jun 8, 2026
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21
A research team led by Davoud Jafari at the University of Twente, in collaboration with the University of Pisa, has completed a series of parabolic flight experiments to investigate advanced smart surfaces under rapidly changing ...
Space Exploration
Jun 6, 2026
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31
Researchers have developed a method for making simultaneous soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) measurements of solid-liquid interfaces and bulk liquids. By controlling the thickness of the liquid layer, they obtained ...
General Physics
Jun 4, 2026
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14
A research team led by Professor Shuichi Hiraoka at the University of Tokyo and Professor Masanori Tachikawa at Yokohama City University has quantitatively analyzed how molecules pass through dynamic nanoscale pores using ...
Nanomaterials
Jun 3, 2026
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