Physics and Astronomy Colloquium
Tuesday, January 9, 2001, 4:10pm
Room 118 Physics-Astronomy Building
"Little Steps for Big Feats: How Defects Can Dominate
Surface Chemistry, and Why We Care"
Roger Tobin, Tufts University
Chemical reactions catalyzed by metal surfaces are central
to pollution control, oxidation and corrosion, chemical
sensing, and most industrial chemical synthesis. In many
cases stuctural and compositional defects in the surfaces
are far more catalytically active than smooth crystalline
facets, and dominate the reation kinetics.
Controlled studies of regularly stepped and intentionally
modified surfaces can help us to understand the role of
defects, with important implications for device design.
Examples will be chosen from recent research relevant to
automotive sensing applications.
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