Density functional theory for colloidal spheres in various external potentials

Understanding the physics behind colloidal systems leads to a variety of applications as these are excellent models for microscopic systems. Within this thesis, spherical colloids are studied under the influence of different external potentials by using Density Functional Theory. This mean field theory averages the interactions of particles resulting in an effective interaction potential. After presenting the basics of this theory, hard spheres on two-dimesional patterned substrates, a binary mixture of repulsive spheres under gravity as well as a colloid-polymer mixture in a one-dimensional potential are explored.