Chemistry 448 Surface Chemistry
Fall 2000


Mondays and Wednesdays 440-555 PM, 269 Willard.
Note different class end time than listed in Penn State's Schedule of Courses

Prerequisites: Chemistry 451 and 452 or equivalents.

Class url: http://stm1.chem.psu.edu/~psw/Chem448f00.html (check for frequent updates)

Faculty

Professor David L. Allara
Office: 185 MRI Building & 415 Davey
Phone: (814) 865-2254
E-mail: dla3@psu.edu
Office Hours: By appointment

Secretary: Sabrina Glasgow, 184 MRI Building, (814) 863-2619

Professor Paul S. Weiss
Office: 407 Davey Laboratory
Phone: (814) 865-3693
E-mail: stm@psu.edu
Instant Messenger: PSWeiss
Office Hours: By appointment or AIM

Secretary: Connie Smith, 128 Davey Laboratory, (814) 863-0119

We also have excellent guest lecturers planned.

Learning in Chem 448

There is a tremendous amount to learn in this field and in this course. Several scientific communities include areas of surface chemistry, but speak largely in different languages. These fields include chemistry, physics, biology, electrical engineering, chemical engineering, and bioengineering. Our goal is to give you enough background (and language training) to understand current research in these areas through talks and papers. This will require a great deal of work on your part.

Anticipate that the lectures, the readings, and the homeworks will be complementary rather than overlapping. You will be responsible for the material from all of these sources. Similarly, your participation in class is required both for discussions and for the education of your classmates and professors. There is nothing that we plan to say that is so critical that a good classroom discussion would not be preferable.

This is a very dynamic subject with rapidly changing perspectives and many advances. You will learn about these by pointers to the current literature and by taking advantage of the many seminars in this field available at Penn State throughout the semester and beyond.

Required Textbook

Surface Chemistry and Catalysis by Gabor A. Somorjai.
Wiley, New York, 1994. ISBN 0-471-03192-5

Supplementary Texts (optional):
Physical Chemistry of Surfaces, by A. Adamson & A. Gast, 6th Ed.
Wiley, 1997, ISBN-0-471-14873-3.

Solids and Surfaces: A Chemist's View of Bonding in Extended Structures by Roald Hoffmann.
VCH, New York, 1988. ISBN 0-89573-709-4.

Grading

1. Class participation: 10%
2. Short (2-3 pages max.) reviews of published research papers on current lecture topics: 15%
~8 will be required during the semester
*Xerox copy of source article must be attached
Short (<5) minute oral presentations of interesting papers are encouraged. One or two can be accommodated each class.
3. Two exams (1 hr. each): 50% (25% each)
Note that pre-approved make-up or conflict exams will be oral exams.
4. One long paper reviewing the literature on an approved topic: 25%
*topic must involve course material *10 pages typical with 10-20+ references
*graded on difficulty of material, clarity, organization, critical/innovative input of student, + related criteria

Consider the following examples of areas from which paper topic can be drawn:
Bioactivity/biocompatibility
Polymer surfaces
Water at interfaces
Nanolithography and pattern formation for integrated circuit fabrication
Microemulsions
Chemical vapor deposition of diamond, amorphous silicon, or other materials
Glass surface chemistry
Corrision
Electrochemistry
Theoretical aspects of chemisorption
Molecular beam scattering
Self-assembled monolayers
Langmuir films
Molecular beam epitaxy
Organometallic chemistry at surfaces

TOTAL: 100%

This version: 1 August 2000
psw