All Topics  
Surface science

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Surface science
 
 
  Topics Surface science Topic Home

Surface science is the study of physical
Physics

Physics is the natural science which examines basic concepts such as energy, force, and spacetime and all that derives from these, such as mass, charge, matter and its Motion ....
 and chemical
Chemistry

Chemistry is the science concerned with the composition, structure, and properties of matter, as well as the changes it undergoes during chemical reactions....
 phenomena that occur at the interface
Interface (chemistry)

An interface is a surface forming a common boundary among two different phase , such as an insoluble solid and a liquid, two immiscible liquids or a liquid and an insoluble gas....
 of two phases
Phase (matter)

In the physical sciences, a phase is a region of space , throughout which all physical properties of a material are essentially uniform. Examples of physical properties include density, refractive index, and chemical composition....
, including solid
Solid

A solid object is in the states of matter characterized by resistance to deformation and changes of volume. In other words, it has high values both of Young's modulus and of shear modulus; this contrasts e.g....
-liquid
Liquid

Liquid is one of the principal states of matter. A liquid is a fluid that has the particles loose and can freely form a distinct surface at the boundaries of its bulk material....
 interfaces, solid-gas
Gas

In physics, a gas is a state of matter, consisting of a collection of particles without a definite shape or volume that are in more or less random motion....
 interfaces, solid-vacuum
Vacuum

A vacuum is a volume of space that is essentially empty of matter, such that its gaseous pressure is much less than atmospheric pressure. The word comes from the Latin term for "empty," but in reality, no volume of space can ever be perfectly empty....
 interfaces, and liquid-gas interfaces. It includes the fields of surface chemistry and surface physics. Some related practical applications are classed as surface engineering
Surface engineering

Surface engineering is the sub-discipline of materials science which deals with the surface of solid matter. It has applications to chemistry, mechanical engineering, and electrical engineering ....
. The science encompasses concepts such as heterogeneous catalysis
Heterogeneous catalysis

Heterogeneous catalysis is a chemistry term which describes catalysis where the catalyst is in a different phase to the reactants. Heterogeneous catalysts provide a surface for the chemical reaction to take place on....
, semiconductor device fabrication, fuel cell
Fuel cell

A fuel cell is an Electrochemistry conversion device. It produces electricity from fuel and an Oxidizing agent , which react in the presence of an electrolyte....
s, self-assembled monolayer
Self-assembled monolayer

A self assembled monolayer is an organized layer of amphiphilic molecules in which one end of the molecule, the ?head group? shows a special affinity for a substrate....
s, and adhesive
Adhesive

Adhesive or glue is a compound in a liquid or semi-liquid state that adhesion or bonds items together. Adhesives may come from either natural or Chemical synthesis sources....
s. Surface science is closely related to interface and colloid science
Interface and colloid science

Interface and colloid science is a branch of chemistry dealing with colloids, heterogeneous systems consisting of a mechanical mixture of particles between 1 nm and 1000 nm dispersed in a continuous medium....
.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Surface science'
Start a new discussion about 'Surface science'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Surface science is the study of physical
Physics

Physics is the natural science which examines basic concepts such as energy, force, and spacetime and all that derives from these, such as mass, charge, matter and its Motion ....
 and chemical
Chemistry

Chemistry is the science concerned with the composition, structure, and properties of matter, as well as the changes it undergoes during chemical reactions....
 phenomena that occur at the interface
Interface (chemistry)

An interface is a surface forming a common boundary among two different phase , such as an insoluble solid and a liquid, two immiscible liquids or a liquid and an insoluble gas....
 of two phases
Phase (matter)

In the physical sciences, a phase is a region of space , throughout which all physical properties of a material are essentially uniform. Examples of physical properties include density, refractive index, and chemical composition....
, including solid
Solid

A solid object is in the states of matter characterized by resistance to deformation and changes of volume. In other words, it has high values both of Young's modulus and of shear modulus; this contrasts e.g....
-liquid
Liquid

Liquid is one of the principal states of matter. A liquid is a fluid that has the particles loose and can freely form a distinct surface at the boundaries of its bulk material....
 interfaces, solid-gas
Gas

In physics, a gas is a state of matter, consisting of a collection of particles without a definite shape or volume that are in more or less random motion....
 interfaces, solid-vacuum
Vacuum

A vacuum is a volume of space that is essentially empty of matter, such that its gaseous pressure is much less than atmospheric pressure. The word comes from the Latin term for "empty," but in reality, no volume of space can ever be perfectly empty....
 interfaces, and liquid-gas interfaces. It includes the fields of surface chemistry and surface physics. Some related practical applications are classed as surface engineering
Surface engineering

Surface engineering is the sub-discipline of materials science which deals with the surface of solid matter. It has applications to chemistry, mechanical engineering, and electrical engineering ....
. The science encompasses concepts such as heterogeneous catalysis
Heterogeneous catalysis

Heterogeneous catalysis is a chemistry term which describes catalysis where the catalyst is in a different phase to the reactants. Heterogeneous catalysts provide a surface for the chemical reaction to take place on....
, semiconductor device fabrication, fuel cell
Fuel cell

A fuel cell is an Electrochemistry conversion device. It produces electricity from fuel and an Oxidizing agent , which react in the presence of an electrolyte....
s, self-assembled monolayer
Self-assembled monolayer

A self assembled monolayer is an organized layer of amphiphilic molecules in which one end of the molecule, the ?head group? shows a special affinity for a substrate....
s, and adhesive
Adhesive

Adhesive or glue is a compound in a liquid or semi-liquid state that adhesion or bonds items together. Adhesives may come from either natural or Chemical synthesis sources....
s. Surface science is closely related to interface and colloid science
Interface and colloid science

Interface and colloid science is a branch of chemistry dealing with colloids, heterogeneous systems consisting of a mechanical mixture of particles between 1 nm and 1000 nm dispersed in a continuous medium....
. Interfacial chemistry and physics are common subjects for both. The methods are different. In addition, interface and colloid science studies macroscopic
Macroscopic

Macroscopic is a word commonly used to describe physics objects that are measurement and observation by the naked eye. When applied to phenomena and abstract objects, it describes existence in the world as we perceive it....
 phenomena that occur in heterogeneous
Heterogeneous

Heterogeneous is an adjective used to describe an object or system consisting of multiple items having a large number of structural variations. It is the opposite of homogeneous, which means that an object or system consists of multiple identical items....
 systems due to peculiarities of interfaces.

History

The field of surface chemistry started with heterogeneous catalysis
Heterogeneous catalysis

Heterogeneous catalysis is a chemistry term which describes catalysis where the catalyst is in a different phase to the reactants. Heterogeneous catalysts provide a surface for the chemical reaction to take place on....
 pioneered by Paul Sabatier
Paul Sabatier (chemist)

Paul Sabatier was a French chemist, born at Carcassonne. He taught science classes most of his life before he became Dean of the Faculty of Science in 1905....
 on hydrogenation
Hydrogenation

Hydrogenation is the chemical reaction that results from the addition of hydrogen . The process is usually employed to a redox or Saturation organic compounds....
 and Fritz Haber
Fritz Haber

Fritz Haber was a German chemistry, who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1918 for his development for Haber process, important for fertilizers and explosives....
 on the Haber process
Haber process

The Haber process, also called the Haber?Bosch process, is the nitrogen fixation reaction of nitrogen and hydrogen, over an enriched iron Catalysis, to produce ammonia....
. Irving Langmuir
Irving Langmuir

Irving Langmuir was an United States chemistry and physics. His most noted publication was the famous 1919 article "The Arrangement of Electrons in Atoms and Molecules" in which, building on Gilbert N....
 was also one of the founders of this field, and the scientific journal on surface science, Langmuir
Langmuir (journal)

Langmuir is a peer-review scientific journal, published since 1985 by the American Chemical Society. It publishes research in the areas of surface chemistry and Colloid....
, bears his name. The Langmuir adsorption equation
Langmuir equation

The Langmuir equation or Langmuir isotherm or Langmuir adsorption equation relates the coverage or adsorption of molecules on a solid surface to gas pressure or concentration of a medium above the solid surface at a fixed temperature....
 is used to model monolayer adsorption where all surface adsorption sites have the same affinity for the adsorbing species. Gerhard Ertl
Gerhard Ertl

Gerhard Ertl is a German physicist and a Professor emeritus at the Department of Physical Chemistry, Fritz Haber Institute of the MPG in Berlin, Germany....
 in 1974 described for the first time the adsorption of hydrogen
Hydrogen

Hydrogen is the chemical element with atomic number 1. It is represented by the chemical symbol H. At standard temperature and pressure, hydrogen is a colorless, odorless, nonmetallic, tasteless, highly combustion and explosive Diatomic molecule gas with the molecular formula H2....
 on a palladium
Palladium

Palladium is a rare and lustrous silvery-white metal that was discovered in 1803 by William Hyde Wollaston, who named it palladium after the 2 Pallas, which in turn, was named after the epithet of the Greek mythology goddess Athena, acquired by her when she slew Athena#Pallas_Athena....
 surface using a novel technique called LEED. Similar studies with platinum
Platinum

Platinum is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Pt and an atomic number of 78. Its name is derived from the Spanish term platina del Pinto, which is literally translated into "little silver of the Pinto River." It is in Group 10 of the periodic table of elements....
, nickel
Nickel

Nickel is a chemical element, with the chemical symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge....
, and iron
Iron

Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. Iron is a Group 8 element and period 4 element. Iron is lustrous and silvery in color....
  followed. Most recent developments in surface sciences include the 2007 Nobel Prize of Chemistry winner Gerhard Ertl's advancements in surface chemistry, specifically his investigation of the interaction between carbon monoxide molecules and platinum surfaces.

Surface chemistry


Surface chemistry can be roughly defined as the study of chemical reactions at interfaces. It is closely related to surface engineering
Surface engineering

Surface engineering is the sub-discipline of materials science which deals with the surface of solid matter. It has applications to chemistry, mechanical engineering, and electrical engineering ....
, which aims at modifying the chemical composition of a surface by incorporation of selected elements or functional groups that produce various desired effects or improvements in the properties of the surface or interface. Surface chemistry also overlaps with electrochemistry
Electrochemistry

Electrochemistry is a branch of chemistry that studies chemical reactions which take place in a solution at the interface of an electron Electrical conductor and an ionic conductor , and which involve electron transfer between the electrode and the electrolyte or species in solution....
. Surface science is of particular importance to the field of heterogeneous catalysis
Catalysis

Catalysis is the process in which the reaction rate of a chemical reaction is either increased or decreased by means of a chemical substance known as a catalyst....
.

The adhesion of gas or liquid molecules to the surface is known as adsorption
Adsorption

Adsorption is a process that occurs when a gas or liquid solute accumulates on the surface of a solid or a liquid , forming a film of molecules or atoms ....
. This can be due to either chemisorption
Chemisorption

Chemisorption is a classification of adsorption characterized by a strong interaction between an adsorbate and a Substrate surface, as opposed to physisorption which is characterized by a weak Van der Waals force....
 or by physisorption
Physisorption

Physisorption, also called physical adsorption, is a process in which the electronic structure of the atom or molecule is barely perturbed upon adsorption....
. These too are included in surface chemistry.

The behavior of a solution based interface is affected by the surface charge, dipoles, energies, and their distribution within the electrical double layer
Electrical double layer

The electrical double layer is a structure that describes the variation of electric potential near a surface, and has a large bearing on the behaviour of colloids and other surfaces in contact with solutions and solid state fast ion conductors....
.

Surface physics

Surface physics can be roughly defined as the study of physical changes that occur at interfaces. It overlaps with surface chemistry. Some of the things investigated by surface physics include surface diffusion
Surface diffusion

Surface diffusion is a general process involving the motion of adatoms, molecules, and atomic clusters at solid material surfaces. The process can generally be thought of in terms of particles jumping between adjacent adsorption sites on a surface, as in figure 1....
, surface reconstruction
Surface reconstruction

Surface reconstruction refers to the process by which atoms at the surface of a crystal assume a different structure than that of the bulk. Surface reconstructions are important in that they help in the understanding of surface chemistry for various materials, especially in the case where another material is absorbed into the surface....
, surface phonons and plasmons, epitaxy
Epitaxy

Epitaxy refers to the method of depositing a monocrystalline film on a monocrystalline substrate. The deposited film is denoted as epitaxial film or epitaxial layer....
 and surface enhanced Raman scattering
Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy

Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy, or Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering, often abbreviated SERS, is a surface sensitive technique that results in the enhancement of Raman scattering by molecules adsorption on rough metal Surface science....
, the emission and tunneling of electrons, spintronics
Spintronics

Spintronics , also known as magnetoelectronics, is an emerging technology which exploits the intrinsic spin of electrons and its associated magnetic moment, in addition to its fundamental electronic charge, in Solid state ....
, and the self-assembly of nanostructure
Nanostructure

A nanostructure is an object of intermediate size between molecular and microscopic structures.In describing nanostructures it is necessary to differentiate between the number of dimensions on the nanoscale....
s on surfaces.

Analysis techniques

The study and analysis of surfaces involves both physical and chemical analysis techniques.

Several modern methods probe the topmost 1–10 nm of the of surface
Surface

In mathematics, specifically in topology, a surface is a two-dimensional topological manifold. The most familiar examples are those that arise as the boundaries of solid objects in ordinary three-dimensional Euclidean space E3....
s exposed to vacuum. These include X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy
X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy is a quantitative spectroscopic technique that measures the elemental composition, empirical formula, chemical state and electronic state of the elements that exist within a material....
, Auger electron spectroscopy
Auger electron spectroscopy

Auger electron spectroscopy is a common analytical technique used specifically in the study of surface science and, more generally, in the area of materials science....
, low-energy electron diffraction, electron energy loss spectroscopy
Electron energy loss spectroscopy

File:EELS Idealised.svgIn electron energy loss spectroscopy a material is exposed to a beam of electrons with a known, narrow range of kinetic energy....
, thermal desorption spectroscopy
Thermal desorption spectroscopy

Thermal desorption spectroscopy , also known as temperature programmed desorption is the method of observing desorption molecules from a surface when the surface temperature is increased....
, ion scattering spectroscopy, secondary ion mass spectrometry
Secondary ion mass spectrometry

Secondary ion mass spectrometry is a technique used in materials science and surface science to analyze the composition of solid surfaces and thin films by sputtering the surface of the specimen with a focused primary ion beam and collecting and analyzing ejected secondary ions....
, and other surface analysis methods included in the list of materials analysis methods
List of materials analysis methods

List of materials analysis methods:*?SR - see Muon spin spectroscopy*? - see Magnetic susceptibility...
. Many of these techniques require vacuum as they rely on the detection of electrons or ions emitted from the surface under study.

Purely optical techniques can be used to study interfaces under a wide variety of conditions. Reflection-absorption infrared, surface enhanced Raman
Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy

Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy, or Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering, often abbreviated SERS, is a surface sensitive technique that results in the enhancement of Raman scattering by molecules adsorption on rough metal Surface science....
, and sum frequency generation
Sum frequency generation

Sum-frequency generation is an example of a second order non-linear optics process.This phenomenon is based on the annihilation of two input photons at frequencies and while, simultaneously, one photon at frequency is generated....
 spectroscopies can be used to probe solid-vacuum as well as solid-gas, solid-liquid, and liquid-gas surfaces.

Modern physical analysis methods include scanning-tunneling microscopy
Scanning tunneling microscope

Scanning tunneling microscope is a powerful technique for viewing surfaces at the atomic level. Its development in 1981 earned its inventors, Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer , the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1986....
 (STM) and a family of methods descended from it. Two of these are atomic force microscopy
Atomic force microscope

The atomic force microscope or scanning force microscope is a very high-resolution type of Scanning probe microscopy, with demonstrated resolution of fractions of a nanometer, more than 1000 times better than the diffraction limited....
 (AFM) and SPM
Scanning probe microscopy

Scanning Probe Microscopy is a branch of microscopy that forms images of surfaces using a physical probe that scans the specimen. An image of the surface is obtained by mechanically moving the probe in a raster scan of the specimen, line by line, and recording the probe-surface interaction as a function of position....
. These microscopies have considerably increased the ability and desire of surface scientists to measure the physical structure of many surfaces. This increase is related to a more general interest in nanotechnology
Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology, shortened to "Nanotech", is the study of the control of matter on an atomic and molecular scale. Generally nanotechnology deals with structures of the size 100 nanometers or smaller, and involves developing materials or devices within that size....
.

See also


  • Surface finishing
    Surface finishing

    Surface finishing is a broad range of industrial processes that alter the surface of a manufactured item for achieve a certain property. Finishing processes may be employed to: improve appearance, adhesion or wettability, soldering, corrosion resistance, tarnish resistance, chemical resistance, wear resistance, hardness, modify electrical conductiv...
  • Tribology
    Tribology

    Tribology is the science and technology of interacting surfaces in relative Motion . It includes the study and application of the principles of friction, lubrication and wear....


External links

  • , a journal of the American Chemical Society
    American Chemical Society

    The American Chemical Society is a learned society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has over 160,000 members at all degree-levels and in all fields of chemistry, chemical engineering and related fields....
  • , a video from the Vega Science Trust