Wetting induced by repulsive particles,porous membranes andmetal coated spheres.DissertationZur Erlangung des akademischen GradesDoktor der Naturwissenschaften (Dr. rer. nat.)an derUniversit˜at UlmFakult˜at fur˜ Naturwissenschaftenvorgelegt vonTierno PietroUlm, 2005Amtierender Dekan: Prof. Dr. Peter ReinekerErster Referent: Prof. Dr. Werner A. GoedelZweiter Referent: Privat. Doz. Dr. Klaus ThonkeTag der Promotion: 21/11/2005A GemmaTable of ContentsTable of Contents vList of Tables viiList of Figures viii1 General introduction. 11.1 Introduction to Particle Assisted Wetting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.1.1 Interfacial energy of a single particle at an interface. . . . . . . . . 21.1.2 Scenarios for the Particle-Assisted Wetting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61.2 Outline of this thesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Realization of porous membranes with difierent pore size. 122.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122.1.1 Preparation of the porous membranes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132.1.2 Statistical analysis of membranes with difierent pore sizes. . . . . . 152.2 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182.3 Experimental part . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 Control of Particle Assisted Wetting by an external magnetic fleld. 223.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .