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.