An Introduction to Water
Where Does Water Come From?
Molecular Structure of Isolated Water Molecules
Hydrogen Bonding Off: van der Waals Interactions
Hydrogen Bonding On: Condensed Water
Elixir of Life
Summary
Interfaces of Condensed Pure Water
Liquid Water
Solid Water
Summary
Water on Ideal Solid Surfaces
Single Water Molecules and Clusters
Substrate-Induced Structuring of Mono- and Bilayers
Substrate-Induced Structuring of Water Multilayers
Confined Water
When Ions Come on the Scene
Summary
Hydrophobicity and Hydrophilicity
Wetting and Contact Angle
Hydrophobicity at Different Length Scales
Amphiphilicity
The Role of Dipoles
Summary
Water on Real Solid Surfaces
Water Purification
Water Splitting
Atmospheric Agents
Capillary Adhesion
Water Desorption in Vacuum Systems
Summary
Water/Biomolecule Interfaces
Is Water a Biomolecule?
Proteins
Nucleic Acids and DNA
Biological Membranes
Summary
Appendix A Buoyancy and Surface Tension
Appendix B Capillary Forces
Appendix C Marangoni–Bénard Patterns
Index
Biography
Jordi Fraxedas obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Stuttgart, Germany. His thesis work was performed at the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research under the supervision of Prof. M. Cardona. After a post-doctoral position at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble (France) and an established researcher position at the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN) in Geneva (Switzerland), he joined the Solid State Research Institute of Barcelona of the Spanish Research Council in 1995. He is now leading the Force Probe Microscopy and Surface Nanoengineering Group at the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology in Bellaterra (Barcelona). His research activity is focused on interfacial phenomena arising from the nanostructuration of surfaces and from the interaction of molecules with surfaces. He has co-authored more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific articles and published the book entitled Molecular Organic Materials: From Molecules to Crystalline Solids (Cambridge University Press, 2006).
