Colloids are submicron particles that are ubiquitous in nature (milk, clay, blood) and industrial products (paints, drilling fluids, food). In recent decades it has become clear that adding depletants such as polymers or small colloids to colloidal dispersions allows one to tune the interactions between the colloids and in this way control the stability, structure and rheological properties of colloidal dispersions. This book offers a concise introduction to the fundamentals of depletion effects and their influence on the phase behavior of colloidal dispersions. Throughout the book, conceptual explanations are accompanied by experimental and computer simulation results.From the review by Kurt Binder: "They have succeeded in writing a monograph that is a very well balanced compromise between a very pedagogic introduction, suitable for students and other newcomers, and reviews of the advanced research trends in the field. Thus each chapter contains many and up to date references, but in the initial sections of the chapters, there are suggested exercises which will help the interested reader to recapitulate the main points of the treatment and to deepen his understanding of the subject. Only elementary knowledge of statistical thermodynamics is needed as a background for understanding the derivations presented in this book; thus this text is suitable also for advanced teaching purposes, useful of courses which deal with the physics for soft condensed matter. There does not yet exist any other book with a similar scope..... The readability of this book is furthermore enhanced by a list of symbols, and index of keywords, and last not least by a large number of figures, including many pedagogic sketches which were specifically prepared for this book. Thus, this book promises to be very useful for students and related applied sciences alike." Eur. Phys. J. E (2015) 38: 73

Henk N.W. Lekkerkerker (1946) studied chemistry at Utrecht University (The Netherlands) and obtained his doctorate at the University of Calgary (Canada) in 1971. He then moved to Brussels initially as a postdoctoral fellow at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium) and subsequently became a Professor of Theoretical Physical Chemistry at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. From 1985 till present he is a Professor of Physical Chemistry at the Van 't Hoff laboratory, Utrecht University  and since 2006 he is also  Academy Professor of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. He received the Bakhuys Roozeboom Gold Medal, the Onsager Medal and the Liquid Matter Prize for his work on phase behavior of colloidal dispersions.

Remco Tuinier (1971) studied food science at Wageningen University (The Netherlands) and performed his PhD work at the NIZO food research institute and Wageningen University on colloid-polymer mixtures. Subsequently, he worked as Postdoctoral fellow at Utrecht University and in 2001 became a staff member at the Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany. From 2008-2015 he worked at DSM Research, Geleen, The Netherlands as Senior and Principal Scientist Colloids & Interfaces. Since 2013 he is part-time professor at Utrecht University. In 2015 he became full professor of physical chemistry at Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands. 

The authors are collecting feedback and corrections for the second edition. Please send your comments to: depletionbook@gmail.com