INORGANIC CHEMISTRY OF MATERIALS I AND LABORATORY

Acquire theoretical and experimental knowledge of the synthetic procedures of materials in the form of films and nanostructured systems. Acquire knowledge on the main structural characterization techniques, morphological and compositional materials. Ability to apply what students have learned during the lectures on the synthesis and characterization of materials in the experiments carried out in the laboratory .

Course syllabus: Deposition techniques of thin films through chemical (chemical vapor deposition and metal-organic CVD, atomic layer deposition, chemical beam epitaxy, sol-gel) or physical processes (molecular beam epitaxy). Syntheses of nanostructures through vapour phase and solution approaches: effects of process parameters and the use of hard and soft templates. Materials/properties relationship for particular crystalline structures. Perovskite based materials and conduction properties: superconductors, dielectrics and ferroelectrics. Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs): electrodes and oxide and proton based conduction electrolytes. Characterization techniques in the fabrication of materials. X-ray diffraction (XRD) of powders, oriented and epitaxial films: phase identification, domain size, rocking curves and pole figures. Electron microscopies: principles and applications of SEM and base concepts of TEM. Energy dispersive X-ray analyses and wavelength dispersive X-ray analyses.

Laboratory experiments: Experiments carried out: 1) syntheses of precursors: Ba(hfa)₂diglyme, Ag(hfa)tetraglyme, Ni(tta)₂tmeda, Eu(tta)₃phen; Characterization of physico-chemical properties of synthesized precursors (m.p., FT-IR and UV-Vis spectra; thermogravimetric analyses); 2) Fabrication of NiO and BaF₂ films through MOCVD; 3) Silver nanostructured films through a solution route; 4) Growth of Eu based luminescent microcrystals; 5) Morphological (SEM) and compositional (EDX) characterization of synthesized materials; 6) Structural characterization through XRD of synthesized materials.

1) A. R. West “Basic Solid State Chemistry and its Applications” Wiley, 2012; 2) B. D. Fahlman “Materials Chemistry” Springer, 2008; 3) L. V. Interrante e M. J. Hampden-Smith Chemistry of Advanced Materials Wiley-VCH, 1998. Lecture handouts.