98859 - MATERIALI INORGANICI PROPRIETÀ E CARATTERIZZAZIONI

Learning outcomes

The course aims to provide students with the basic knowledge about inorganic materials, the processes for their synthesis, the methods for their characterization (e.g. X-ray diffraction and fluorescence) and their industrial applications. Students will be able to relate the structure of materials to their chemical and physical properties and will gain knowledge about specific categories of materials such as: metal materials, ceramics, metal oxides, inorganic pigments, glass and cement.

Course contents

Prerequisites:

- Knowledge and ability to manipulate elementary functions: powers, roots, exponentials and logarithms. (Training: Elements of Mathematics)

- Knowledge of the main physical quantities and the relationships between them, the main units of measurement. Notions of thermodynamics. (Training activity: Foundations of Physical Chemistry)

- The periodic table and the atomic properties of the elements. Structure and bonding in ionic solids and metals. Chemical reactions and their balancing. Chemical equilibrium. (Training activity: General and Inorganic Chemistry with Laboratory)


Program:

- Introduction to inorganic materials.
- Solid state general principles. Metallic, ionic, covalent and molecular solids.
- Binary, ternary and higher compounds. Hydrides, carbides, nitrides and borides.

- Synthesis of materials: sol-gel and solvothermal processes, glass formation, chemical vapour deposition, aerosol process.

- Crystals, crystal defects, polycrystalline materials.

- Synthesis of thin films, fibres and intercalated compounds.

- Inorganic oxides, with a focus on silica and alumina. Zeolites. Spinels and Perovskites. Synthesis mediated by inorganic oxides. Applications of oxides (glass, optical fibres, ITO). Layered solids: clays, hydrotalcytes, phosphates and metal phosphonates. Comparison between micro-, meso- and macroporous solids.

- Metals and metal alloys, focus on steel and cast iron. Critical inorganic materials.

- Characterisation techniques: X-ray diffraction (single crystal, powder and total scattering), electron microscopy (SEM, TEM), electron diffraction, X-ray fluorescence (XRF), X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XANES/EXAFS), porosimetry, calorimetry, quantitative composition (ICP).

Readings/Bibliography

J. W. Evans, L. C. Jonghe, The Production and Processing of Inorganic Materials, 2016, Springer, ISBN 978-3-319-48566-9

U. S. Schubert, N. Hüsing, Synthesis of Inorganic Materials, 2019, Wiley, ISBN 978-3-527-34457-4

Teaching methods

Lectures in the classroom on the theoretical notions, supported by tutorials aimed at elucidating the main applications of the inorganic materials studied.

Assessment methods

The knowledge exammination takes place through a final test that combines a report on a subject related to the course and an oral presentation followed by questions to assess the student knowledge of the program.

The final grade takes into account the results obtained in both parts.

The student receives a grade out of thirty according to the preparation and ability demonstrated to expose in a synthetic way and with appropriate language properties. The test is considered as passed upon attainment of a score equal or higher than 18/30.

To undertake the exam the student must register through AlmaEsami, in compliance with the reported deadlines. Those who fail to register by the scheduled date are required to notify promptly (and in any case before the official closure of the registration lists) the problem to the teacher, which will decide whether to admit them to undertake the test.

Teaching tools

Lectures are held with the help of whiteboard and PowerPoint presentations.

The teaching material projected during the lctures is made accessible to students on the online platform Virtuale (https://virtuale.unibo.it/).

Office hours

See the website of Massimiliano Curcio