Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochem. Eng.
Aspects 343 (2009) 1–2
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and
Engineering Aspects
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/colsurfa
Preface
A collection of papers presented at the 22nd ECIS conference, Cracow, Poland,
August 31–September 5, 2008
The 22nd conference of the European Colloid and Interface Soci-
ety, ECIS 2008, was organized by the Institute of Catalysis and
Surface Chemistry, the Chemistry Department of the Jagiellonian
University and the Pro Chemia Foundation.
More than 520 participants (45 countries) from academia and
industry attended the conference including many experts of world-
wide reputation. We were especially happy to be hosting many
young scientists numbering almost one third of the entire confer-
ence participants. Their attendance was generously supported by
ECIS, ECIC, Polish Ministry of Science and Education, and COST D43
Action.
The main goal of the conference was to create a convenient
forum for meeting people working in various areas of theoreti-
cal simulations, synthesis, physical–chemical characteristics and
technological applications of colloid systems. A special emphasis
was placed on promoting networking and the exchange of exper-
tise between Western and Central European countries. Cracow
proved an ideal venue for this integration because of its conve-
nient geographical location in the centre of Europe, and for its long
and well-established tradition in surface science of surface phe-
nomena. It is worth mentioning M. Smoluchowski, the founder
of modern colloid science, who worked at the Jagiellonian Uni-
versity. His thoughts still inspire contemporary surface science,
which flourishes at various universities and research institutions
of Cracow.
In addition to its heritage in science, Cracow has long been
Poland’s cultural capital. It is renowned for its architecture, paint-
ings, poetry, music and student life (there are presently 200,000
students crowding around more than 16 various universities).
The conference, integrated as before with the COST D43 Work-
shop, was devoted to the latest developments in the fields
0927-7757/$ – see front matter © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.colsurfa.2009.03.051
of dispersed nanoparticle systems, surfactants, polyelectrolytes,
biopolymers and interfacial dynamics, especially the molecular
designing of new soft materials.
Consequently, the main topics of the conference were:
1. Dispersed and colloidal systems – bulk properties: nanopar-
ticles, microemulsions, interactions, stability, light scattering,
aggregation, migration, electrokinetics.
2. Polyelectrolytes, surfactants and biocolloids: macroions, com-
plexes, poly-peptides, DNA, proteins, enzymes.
3. Concentrated dispersed systems – rheology: micelles, vesicles,
liposomes, gels, glasses, liquid crystals, phase transitions, rheol-
ogy.
4. Interactions of particles with surfaces: theory of interactions,
adsorption, deposition, adhesion of particles, measurements of
interaction and adhesion forces, AFM techniques, imaging of sur-
face features.
5. Modelling of colloid dynamics and structure: polyelectrolyte
and biopolymer conformations and structure in the bulk, molec-
ular and Brownian dynamics simulations, convective-, diffusion-
and external force transport, polyelectrolytes and proteins at sur-
faces, particle mono- and multilayer structures.
6. Active and functional interfaces: precursor layers, surface
self-assembling, layer by layer deposition, attachment of
colloids, multilayers of colloid particles, colloidal and bio-
colloidal arrays, patterned surfaces, micro-contact printing
poly-electrolyte/protein/ particle multilayers, gradient surfaces,
protein arrays.
7. Novel bulk and surface colloid systems: encapsulation meth-
ods and microcapsules, controlled release of substances, vectors,
drug delivery systems, biosensors, adhesion promoting surfaces,
antifouling coatings, biocompatible coatings, artificial joints,
electrophoretic and chromatographic supports, membranes, col-
loid based catalysis, photocatalysis, optical filters.
8. Applications: microphoretic devices, microfluidic systems, elec-
trophoretic deposition, affinity chromatography, ultra- and
membrane filtration, dialysis, bioreactors, biofouling.
The scientific programme was comprised of nine plenary lec-
tures delivered by:
Jerome Bibette (ESPCI, France),
Mike Cates (University of Edinburgh, UK),
Imre Dekany (University of Szeged, Hungary),
Stefan U. Egelhaaf (University of Duesseldorf, Germany),
2 Preface / Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochem. Eng. Aspects 343 (2009) 1–2
Daan Frenkel (Institute of Atomic and Molecular Physics, The
Netherlands),
Jacob Klein (Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel),
Arunas Ramanavicious (University of Vilnius, Lithuania),
Conxita Solans (CSIC, Spain), and
B. Lindman (University of Lund, Sweden), the Overbeek Medal lau-
reate.
These outstanding lectures opening each session were supple-
mented by 174 key-note presentations and 390 posters.
Unfortunately, not too many of these exciting oral and poster
presentations appear hereafter in this special issue of Colloids and
Surfaces A. This is so because we were allowed as editors to choose
20 best articles only, which was, as one can imagine, a challenging
task. The other post-conference papers submitted to us will appear
in the electronic version in Procedia.
Last not least, the editors of this volume would like to express
their deepest gratitude to all individuals and institutions which
contributed to the success of the conference, especially:
• The ECIS with its President Maria da Graca-Miguel for entrusting
us with the organization of such major event and the support of
young participants in the form of 20 student bursaries.
• Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Poland for the spe-
cial conference grant, which allowed us to cover partially the
cots of invited lecturers, printing of conference materials and the
attendance of 35 young scientists.
• ECIC for funding 15 bursaries, mostly for young scientists from
the East-European countries.
• The COS D43 Action for supporting financially the COST work-
shop.
• The Elsevier company, the editor of Colloids and Surfaces A.
• All devoted people from the organizing committee for their
exceptionally efficient and personal engagement.
We sincerely believe that the ECIS 2008 conference and this
special issue of Colloids and Surfaces will promote a long lasting
and fruitful upsurge of scientific activities in the fascinating field of
colloid and interface systems.
Zbigniew Adamczyk ∗ , Piotr Warszyński
Institute of Catalysis and Surface Chemistry,
Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Niezapominajek 8,
30-239 Cracow, Poland
∗ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: ncadamcz@cyf-kr.edu.pl
(Z. Adamczyk), ncwarszy@cyf-kr.edu.pl
(P. Warszyński)
Available online 5 April 2009