Vasileios Koutsos

Professor Vasileios Koutsos holds a Chair in Soft Materials and Surfaces at the Institute for Materials and Processes, School of Engineering, The University of Edinburgh. His main research interests include: self-assembly of polymers and nanoparticles on surfaces and interfaces, mechanics of materials with emphasis on soft materials (polymers, rubbers, colloids), nanomaterials, nanostructures, nanocomposites, adhesion, tribology and contact mechanics.Particular emphasis is laid on using the atomic force microscope (AFM) as an advanced multipurpose tool to probe not only the nanometre-scale morphology but also the nanomechanical, physicochemical, adhesive and frictional properties of surfaces, thin films, coatings, nanostructures and nanomaterials for both fundamental studies and applications (chemical industry, manufacturing, biotechnology & biomedicine, micro/nanoelectronics). His specialities include polymers, complex fluids and soft condensed matter; self assembly of polymers and nanoparticles on surfaces; adhesion and tribology; elastomers; mechanics of materials; nanocomposites; wettability of surfaces, wetting, dewetting; surface metrology and characterisation; Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM).