Slovenia

The group from Physical Chemistry Laboratory at the Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, is active in teaching and research in various fields related to physical chemistry. The research work is focused to experimental determination of physico-chemical properties of (predominantly) aqueous solutions (mainly electrolyte, surfactant, and polyelectrolyte solutions), as well as to theoretical studies of liquid systems (calculation of thermodynamic properties of electrolyte and polyelectrolyte solutions using various approaches, water modelling, hydration of nonpolar solutes, ions and mixtures of water and other compounds). The research is related to educational process, which includes number of subjects from quantum chemistry and statistical thermodynamics on one side to colloid and surface chemistry on the other. Experimental techniques for study of aqueous solutions, available at the Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology, University of Ljubljana, are isothermal titration (micro)calorimetry, conductometry, potentiometry, osmometry, densimetry, spectrophotometry, fluorometry, circular dichroism spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, rheology, capillary viscometry, particle size (in dispersions and solutions) and zeta potential determination, laser light scattering (both DLS and SLS), and small-angle light scattering. Buying of combined potentiostat/galvanostat/impedance analyzer instrument in order to cover wider range of research topics is under progress. Use of theoretical methods, supported with cluster of powerful computers, includes molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo simulations, quantum chemical calculations and usage of several analytical methods like integral equation theory, perturbation theory and methods based on statistical mechanics.