Subtitle for course: "Applications of Physical Chemistry to Surfaces and Interfaces in Materials Science and Technology"
Special Properties of Surfaces and Interfaces (5 weeks): chemisorption; physical adsorption; Langmuir and BET adsorption isotherms; surface tension; Gibbs adsorption equation; surfactants; colloidal state; Langmuir-Blodgett films; curved interfaces; relevance to catalysis, materials fabrication etc. Surface structural chemistry.
Modern Methods for Characterizing Surfaces (4 weeks): scanning electron microscopy (SEM); scanning tunneling microscopy (STM); X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS); Auger electron spectroscopy (AES); secondary ion mass spectrometery (SIMS); low-energy electron diffraction (LEED).
Introduction to Electrode Dynamics (4 weeks): electronic energy levels; Fermi level; transition state theory in the presence of an applied potential; Butler-Volmer equation; corrosion protection; voltammetry; electrocapillary measurements; Lippmann equation; models of the electrode/solution interface.
Background material is available in class handouts, and in two suggested (paperback) texts from the Oxford Chemistry Primers series: Surfaces by G. Attard and C. Barnes (Oxford, 1998) and Electrode Dynamics by A.C. Fisher (Oxford, 1996).
The laboratory illustrates material covered in lectures.
Experiments:
- Conductance of Solutions.
- Surface Tension of Solutions.
- Adsorption from Solution.
- Langmuir Blodgett Films.
- Diffusion.
Assessment procedure:
| Term | 20 |
| Lab | 25 |
| Exam | 55 |
| Total | 100 |