00123 - Solid State Physical Chemistry

Learning outcomes

At the end of the Course student should have reached the basic knowledge of: intermolecular interactions and their most relevant consequencies on the physical state of matter; order and disorder; fundamental methods for the determination of the average values of quantities from the microscopic properties of molecules and atoms;  energetics of point defects in solids; description of vibrations and electrons in solids; optical spectroscopic methods used in the characterization of the solid state.

Course contents

1) Intermolecular forces. Multipolar expansion. Polarizability. Lattice energy of ionic crystals.  Order- disorder

2)Fundamentals of statistical thermodynamics. Macro and  microstates. The probabilità.  Distributions. The random walk model. Averages. Phase space. Ensembles method.  The Boltzmann distribution.The canonical partition function. Fluctuations. Indistinguishable particles. Fermi-Dirac distribution. Numerical statistical mechanics: simulation methods. The pair distribution function.

3) Defects in solids: thermodinamics and statistics. The heat capacity. Electronic defects. Color centres.

4)Vibrations in harmonic crystals . The Einstein and the Debye models. The heat capacity at low temperature.The density of states. Dispersion curves: optic and acoustic branches. Vibrational spectra of solids.

5)Elettrons in solids. The free-electron model. The electron heat capacity. Electrons in periodic potentials. Block functions. Tight-binding model. Energy bands.  Optical properties.

Readings/Bibliography

Lecture notes will be made available in advance.

 Some reference textbooks:

The physical chemistry of solids, R.J.Borg and G.J Dienes  Academic Press Inc., NY 1992

The electronic structure and Chemistry of solids, P.A.Cox Oxford Science Publications, Oxford1998

Teaching methods

Lectures illustrated  in the classroom by slides or transparencies.

Computer numerical applications and laboratory practical exercises connected with the subjects  illustrated previously in the lectures

Assessment methods

Final exam (which gives rise to mark).

Reports at the conclusion of each Computer and/or laboratory exercise (which do not contribute to a mark)

Teaching tools

Video projector, Blackboard (for Lectures)

Instrumental apparatuses (spectrometers), PC (for the Lab)

Office hours

See the website of Maria Grazia Giorgini