PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY OF MATERIALS

Knowledge and understanding: Know and fully understand the structure of solid-state matter and characterization techniques

Applied knowledge and understanding: Know and understand the possible applications of functional materials

Making judgements: Independently judge topics of interest in the field of materials science

Communication skills: Communicate your knowledge to experts in the sector and other scientific/technological fields

Learning skills: Be able to understand specialist texts and literature in the field.

The course consists into lectures, including numerical exercises

If necessary, the course will be given in remote. In this case some changes are possible, in order to respect the contrains here reported.

Principles of mathematical analysis

Principles of classical physics

Principles of general chemistry

Principles of physical chemistry

- Crystalline structure
Lattices and unit cells. Bravais lattices. Crystalline planes and directions. Miller indices. Packing energy and structures. Covalent and ionic crystals. Molecular crystals. Defects in crystalline structures. Point and extended defects. Defects thermodynamics.
- Crystalline structure: determination and analysis
Interference and diffraction: general concepts. Diffraction od crystalline phases. Laue and Bragg laws. Fourier transforms and reciprocal lattices. single-crystals, poly-crystals and nano-crystals. Diffraction in the amorphous phases.
- The electronic system of solids
Charge carriers and transport under electric and magnetic fields. Free electrons and bound electrons. Bloch theorem and band structure. Dispersion relations for electrons. Density of states. The Fermi- Dirac distribution. Metals, semiconductors, insulators. Applications to nanomaterials.
- Semiconductors and applications
Charge carriers in semiconductors. Electrons, holes and their motion.  Carrier concentration and the law of mass action. Direct and indirect gap semiconductors. Doping. Some few semiconductor devices: pn-junction and the diode, transistors. Applications to photonics and electronics.
- Lattice vibrations and thermal properties
Lattice and molecular vibrations: a comparison. Vibrational dispersion relations. Acoustic and optical branches. Phonons. Vibrational density of states and Debye frequency. Vibrational spectroscopy in solids. Specific heat in solids. The Dulong Petit law. Low temperatures.
- Dielectric and optical properties
Polarizability and dielectric function. Macroscopic response to an electromagnetic radiation. Absorption, reflection at a boundary, elastic and anelastic diffusion. The Lorentz model. Complex refractive index and dielectric function. Free electrons and plasmons. Applications to energetics, catalysis and the environment. The use of lasers in chemistry and materials science.

S.Elliott: The physics and chemistry of solids

C.Kittel: Introduction to solid state physics