Surface Chemistry

Written specifically for undergraduates, this book conveys the fundamental concepts of surface chemistry. It describes solid surfaces, their properties at macroscopic and microscopic levels and their interrelation, and reflects the striking advances made in recent years through the study of well defined single crystal surfaces. It begins with a discussion of the clean surface, its electronic and structural properties and goes on to describe adsorption, desorption, reactions and reactivity at the surface. In the final section, the growth and properties of ultrathin films is introduced. Starting with the established concepts in terms of kinetics and thermodynamics, the book develops to look at phenomena such as surface dynamics and photochemistry. Important techniques which are applied to surfaces are also covered, but this is a concept-driven rather than technique-driven approach.