Foundations of surface science /
"Errors, like straws, upon the surface flow. He who would search for pearls must dive below," John Dryden. It has long been understood that surfaces are special. No matter how perfect a material might be, the abrupt termination of its ideal structure and symmetry implies not only a reducti...
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
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Oxford ; New York :
Oxford University Press,
2023.
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| Edition: | Second edition. |
| Series: | Oxford chemistry primers.
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| Subjects: |
| Summary: | "Errors, like straws, upon the surface flow. He who would search for pearls must dive below," John Dryden. It has long been understood that surfaces are special. No matter how perfect a material might be, the abrupt termination of its ideal structure and symmetry implies not only a reduction from three dimensions to two, but also the inevitability of unique sites and defects unknown in the underlying bulk. If we are searching for perfection, the surface is not the place to find it. But if we are looking for interesting and exploitable phenomena, it is a great place to start. Conversely, if our favorite bulk material fails to live up to expectations in practice, it may be that the properties of its surface are to blame. To understand these properties at an atomic scale, to avoid or to exploit them as the need or opportunity arises, is thus the proper goal of surface science. From the chemist's perspective, two historical applications of this approach loom particularly large, namely catalysis and corrosion. Common rust, to take just one example of the latter, is formed by the action of oxygen and water at iron surfaces, and although the result is readily visible to the naked eye, we must not forget that what we see is the cumulative product of countless individual chemical reactions taking place at the nanoscale. Modification of the surface, perhaps only one or two atomic layers deep, can therefore have a disproportionate effect in slowing the progress of corrosion. If we can grasp the fundamentals, we stand a chance of proposing new surface treatments, prolonging the lifetime of metal components across a variety of environments. In heterogeneous catalysis, on the other hand, we are interested in speeding up preferred reactions, to enhance either activity or selectivity, but once again it is what occurs at the surface that critically dictates our success or failure. Here, it is crucial that we understand the nature of catalytically active surface sites, and the role that surface modifiers might play in promoting or poisoning their influence. |
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| Physical Description: | x, 130 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| ISBN: | 9780198835134 0198835132 |