Standard syllabus
Surface chemistry · Undergraduate · Chemistry
Topics
Surfaces and interfaces
- Surface excess and Gibbs dividing surface
- Surface tension and capillarity
- Young's equation and contact angle
- Wetting, spreading, and hydrophobicity
- Surface energy of solids and liquids
- Curved interfaces: Kelvin equation, Laplace pressure
- Surface reconstruction and relaxation
- Low-energy electron diffraction and surface structure (intro)
- Surface defects and active sites
- Solid–gas, solid–liquid, and liquid–gas interfaces
Adsorption
- Physical vs chemical adsorption
- Langmuir isotherm: derivation and assumptions
- Freundlich and BET isotherms
- Determination of surface area by BET method
- Adsorption kinetics and activation energy of desorption
- Heterogeneous catalysis and Langmuir–Hinshelwood mechanism
- Competitive adsorption and selectivity
- Adsorption on porous materials: zeolites, MOFs
- Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) on gold and silicon
- Applications: gas storage, separation, sensing
Colloids and dispersions
- Colloid classification: lyophobic and lyophilic
- Brownian motion and Einstein–Stokes equation
- Light scattering: Tyndall effect, Rayleigh scattering
- Zeta potential and electrokinetic phenomena
- DLVO theory: van der Waals and electrostatic forces
- Colloid stability and coagulation
- Emulsions and microemulsions
- Foams and surfactant behavior
- Micelle formation and critical micelle concentration (CMC)
- Applications: detergents, drug delivery, food emulsions
Surface modification and nanomaterials
- Thin film deposition: physical and chemical vapor deposition
- Atomic layer deposition (ALD) principles
- Surface functionalization with silanes and thiols
- Nanoparticle synthesis in colloidal media
- Core-shell nanoparticles and surface passivation
- Catalysis at supported metal nanoparticles
- Biosensors: immobilization of biomolecules on surfaces
- Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) principles
- Quartz crystal microbalance for mass sensing
- Environmental fate of nanoparticles at interfaces
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