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The surfaces of solids and the interfacial regions between phases are sites of critically important chemistry in an array
of relevant processes and technologies. The catalysis of chemical reactions by metals, the corrosion of metals, the pollution ofgroundwater by toxic chemicals released from soil surfaces, the electrocatalysis of chlorine generation in the chlor-alkali process,
and the conversion of chlorofluorocarbons to reactive chlorine species which destroy ozone in the upper atmosphere are all examples
of important chemical processes which occur at surfaces or within interfaces. Despite decades of intense study, our understanding
of the chemistry of these and similar interfacial and surface processes at the molecular level is still poorly developed. Thus, the
development of adequate tools with which to study surface and interfacial chemistry and elucidation of the molecular details of such
complex chemistry represent two of the most exciting frontiers of modern measurement science.
Our research seeks to aid in the development of an understanding of such chemistry in several technologically important
areas including electrochemistry and related devices, chromatography, self-assembled monolayer and surfactant systems, and
environmental and atmospheric systems. Methodologies employed for these efforts include surface vibrational spectroscopies,
electrochemistry, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Auger electron spectroscopy, LEED, work function measurements, ellipsometry,
electron microscopy, and the scanning probe microscopies AFM and STM. Specific chemical systems of interest include
electrochemical interfaces and devices, models of these interfaces fabricated and studied in ultrahigh vacuum, surface-confined
organized molecular assemblies formed spontaneously or by self-assembly or Langmuir-Blodgett techniques, layered structures
based on ultrathin silica films as templates for nanofabrication of optoelectronics, chemically-modified oxide surfaces important
in chromatography, soil and mineral systems important in the fate and transport of environmentally important chemicals, and
surfaces such as ice and mineral acids important in atmospheric processes.
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