"This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5)."
The Analytical and Surface Chemistry Program of the Division of Chemistry will support the CAREER development plan of Prof. Matthias Batzill of the University of South Florida. Prof. Batzill and his research group will investigate the surface and interface properties of well defined single crystal surfaces of doped oxides under ultra high vacuum conditions using state of the art surface spectroscopic techniques including photoemission, temperature programmed desorption, and scanning tunneling microscopy. Prof. Batzill will focus his studies on three systems of great industrial importance: Sb:SnO2 (ATO) with applications as gas sensor, oxidation catalyst, and transparent conducting oxide electrodes; Y:ZrO2 (YSZ) with applications in solid oxide fuel cells and as thermal barrier coatings, and Zr:CeO2 with applications as oxygen storage materials in three way exhaust catalysts. Drawing from concepts of materials science, solid state physics, and surface chemistry, the project will provide excellent training opportunities to graduate students. Prof. Batzill will also establish an outreach program that will translate the excitement of "seeing" atoms into a hand-on learning experience for motivated high school students and high school teachers.
