AS.030.691 SOLID STATE CHEMISTRY

Last Updated: December 1, 2011


FALL 2011


TOPIC

The course is designed to provide the essential principles and concepts underlying the modern study of the structure and properties of solids in bulk crystals, thin films, and nanoscale objects. Topics include basic crystallography, structure determination by x-ray, neutron, and electron diffraction, fundamental concepts of bonding in solids, lattice dynamics, electronic band structure, magnetism, and strongly correlated electron behavior. Particular emphasis is placed on the impact of the structure, dimensionality, and electron count on electrical and magnetic properties (electric conduction, superconductivity, thermoelectricity, etc).

All chemistry graduate students who will be studying solids should take this course. Note for physics students: this course is designed to be complementary to AS.171.405 (Condensed Matter Physics). There should be only nominal overlap between the two courses, so you may find value in taking both.


Class Times: TTh 12:00-1:15 PM
Classroom: Remsen 347 (building 36 on the campus map)

INSTRUCTOR:
Prof. Tyrel M. McQueen
mcqueen@jhu.edu
Office: New Chemistry Building #312 and Bloomberg #301
Office Hours: by appointment or just stopping by ("open door policy")

Grading: 70% Homework, 15% midterm, 15% comprehensive take home final exam

Lowest homework score will be dropped.


Required Texts:

"None" (but the supplementary resources will be of value)


Supplementary Resources:

Tentative Schedule (can and will change!)
Week 1 (8/29-9/2): Introduction to solid state chemistry and the nature of the chemical bond [TMMHO, SfS]
Week 2 (9/5-9/9, no class Monday): Crystal structures, important structure types, and coordination polyehdra [BSSC Ch. 1&5]
Week 3 (9/12-9/16): Defects in structures, reciprocal space and diffraction [BSSC Ch. 3, PoM Ch. 2,3,4]
Week 4 (9/19-9/23): Diffraction continued, local versus average structures [PoM Ch. 2,3,4, TMMHO]
Week 5 (9/26-9/30): Electrons in solids, band structures [BSSC Ch. 2] (Optional: A&M Ch. 8,9,10)
Week 6 (10/3-10/7): Midterm Exam (TUESDAY), Electronic structure calculations, common models, limits [TMMHO] (Optional: A&M Ch. 8,9,10)
Week 7 (10/10-10/14, monday classes held tuesday): Electron correlations, multielectron wavefunctions (origin of exchange) [TMMHO]
Week 8 (10/17-10/21): Electrical properties of solids [BSSC Ch. 7, PoM Ch. 8,17,19]
Week 9 (10/24-10/28): Electrical properties of solids continued [TMMHO, BSSC Ch. 7, PoM Ch. 8,17,19]
Week 10 (10/31-11/04): Magnetic properties of solids [BSSC Ch. 8, PoM Ch. 14,16]
Week 11 (11/7-11/11): Magnetic properties of solids continued, and thermodynamics in solids, entropy, heat capacity [TMMHO, BSSC Ch. 6,8, PoM Ch. 7,14,16]
Week 12 (11/14-11/18): Coupling of Thermal, Electrical, Magnetic, Mechanical, and Chemical Degrees of Freedom [TMMHO, PoM]
Week 13 (11/21-11/25, no classes wednesday to friday): Coupling of Degrees of Freedom Continued: Charge separation in solids [TMMHO, PoM Ch. 21]
Week 14 (11/28-12/2): Bringing it all together: Current topics in solid state chemistry [TMMHO]
Week 15 (12/5): Guest Speaker: TBD [TMMHO]
Final: Presentations given from 2-5 PM, Monday, December 12th

Homework Assigments

These will be posted weekly.


Final Exam

Final exam information is available at final/index.html.


Handouts

These will be posted as mentioned in the class.


Lecture Notes

As a matter of course policy, lecture notes are not available online. You are welcome to stop by TMM's office to view them anytime.


Audit Policy

Graduate students are allowed to audit the course. It is required that you attend most of the lectures, and strongly recommended that you look at and complete the homework assignments.