In the gel sol method, highly condensed metal hydroxide gels are used as the matrix for the growth of metal oxide particles. The viscous environment restricts particle movement and thus particle aggregation is minimized. Emphasis is on the relationships between the properties of the microemulsion fluid phase and particle characteristics. Important engineering applications of dissolution processes are encountered in hydrometallurgical extraction, surface finishing, and semiconductor device technology. Of particular interest are the thermodynamic modeling of the relevant solid solution equilibria and the elucidation of the roles of metal ligand complexes, surface complexation, and semiconductor electrochemistry.
Interfacial phenomena underlie many of the techniques available for ion and particle separations.
Polymer-salt interactions can induce phase separations in aqueous systems. Particulate separations that use such aqueous biphases as liquid liquid transfer media are being developed. Publications D. Wei and K. Osseo-Asare. K. Osseo-Asare. 1996. K. Osseo-Asare and K. Mishra.