Exploring the nanoworld of interfaces and their functions during paper manufacturing and upgrading

The development and use of modem paper chemicals and additives for the optimized paper manufacturing and upgrading requires more and more the basic understanding of chemical and physical elementary processes involved in controlling the complex interactions in paper stock suspensions. While the traditional colloid chemical tools for characterizing disperse systems (e.g. electrokinetics, particle size measurements, adsorption studies) are still indispensable for the understanding of the action of paper chemicals and additives and, hence, support the technological development in this field, recent progress in analytical instrumentation provides new insight into the mechanisms of action on a molecular scale of nanometers. This may establish the basis for the discovery of structure property relationships and thus help to develop new strategies for product development. By way of example as related to paper manufacturing, sizing and coating recent applications of electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, confocal fluorescence microscopy and dynamic fluorescence spectroscopy are outlined.