Admission requirements
Elective course MSc Chemistry, MSc Physics, MSc Astronomy
For students with a BSc in MST with a major in Chemistry/materials, a BSc in Physics or a BSc in Astronomy or equivalent. Other students should be familiar with basic concepts from physical chemistry/chemical physics, in particular those generally discussed in standard one-semester courses on quantum chemistry/physics, chemical kinetics, spectroscopy, and statistical thermodynamics.
Description
Many properties of solids are strongly influenced or even determined by the behavior of the outermost atomic layers of the material, the surface. Surfaces are also key to many physical and chemical processes with high societal value. For example, heterogeneous (electro)catalysis relies on special surface properties of particular metals and metal oxides. Deposition and growth of semiconductors is critical to the electronics industry. Yet, surfaces form a relatively young field of research in chemistry, physics and even astronomy.
A very wide collection of surface phenomena and surface properties, experimental surface sensitive techniques, and theoretical approaches to describing surface phenomena could be studied in this course. Beyond geometrical surface structure, surface crystallography and low energy electron diffraction, the exact topics in this course are, however, determined by student interest. Students (re)write the textbook for this course, each couple of students contributing or rewriting one chapter to this book. The chapter topic is chosen from a limited list provided by the lecturer containing potential subjects, e.g. surface thermodynamics, surface diffusion, melting, adsorption and desorption, elementary chemical reactions, a large range of surface-sensitive techniques, microscopies and spectroscopies, and surface science for heterogeneous catalysis. Using peer review, the entire class optimizes the textbook that was started last year, creating and studying together.
Beyond two initial meetings (assumed to be on campus), most of the remainder of the course work is performed through self-study and peer review. For self-study and (re)writing of their chapter, other textbooks used in the field, internet resources and primary literature are used. Students meet weekly online with the lecturer. Every week, they also provide and obtain feedback in the form of peer review with a different couple of peers on their writing.
At the end of the course, all student couples present the final version of their chapter and its essential parts in an on-campus presentation to their peers. The presentation aims to help other students in the class study for a written exam.
Course objectives
At the end of the course students
have learned to digest information from a variety of books, internet sources and primary literature on a topic of choice within the field of surface science;
have learned to summarize and present this information in the form of a book chapter on Surface Science written for students by students, including sample exercises;
have gained basic knowledge of the structure of surfaces, various physical and chemical phenomena taking place at solid surfaces, and common experimental techniques that reveal information on surfaces and adsorbates;
are capable of applying this knowledge to solve simple problems related to physical and chemical aspects of solid surfaces.
Timetable
Physics Schedule
For detailed information go to Timetable in Brightspace
Mode of instruction
Lectures/meetings, self-study, peer review and student presentations. See course description above for details.
For peer-review and writing, online resources, e.g. BrightSpace, Pitch-to-Peer, FeedbackFruits, Google Docs and/or Overleaf may be used.
Assessment method
Active participation in peer-review (20%)
Identified contributions to a written book chapter (60%)
Written examination (20%)
The grade for each component of the assessment must exceed an unrounded 6.0 grade to pass the course.
Reading list
The course material may be based on books such as
Surface Science: An Introduction, K. Oura, V.G. Lifshits, A.A. Saranin, A.V. Zotov, and M. Katayama, Springer 2003 (or reprint from 2010)
Surface Science: Foundations of Catalysis and Nanoscience, 3rd ed., K. Kolasinski, Wiley 2012
Surface Science: An Introduction, John B. Hudson, Wiley and sons, 1998, ISBN 9780471252399,
Introduction to Surface Chemistry and Catalysis, Gabor A. Somorjai, Wiley, 2nd edition, 2010. ISBN 9780470508237
Springer book on Surface Science, editors: Mario Rocca et al, Springer, 1st edition, 2020, ISBN 978-3-030- 46906-1
In addition, students will read articles from the primary surface science literature.
The written examination is based on the textbook chapters created by the student group during the course.
Registration
Register for this course via uSis
Contact
Remarks
According to OER article 4.8, students are entitled to view their marked examination for a period of 30 days following the publication of the results of a written examination. Students should contact the lecturer to make an appointment for such an inspection session.