9404687 Trenary This award supports the foreign travel expenses for Dr. Michael Trenary, Chemistry Department at the University of Illinois at Chicago, to spend a year in Japan conducting collaborative research studies on metal boride surfaces with Professor Chuhei Oshima of the Department of Applied Physics at Waseda University in Tokyo. Metal borides are intriguing materials; extremely hard, chemically inert and possessing very high melting points. Many also have unique surface properties making them useful in various applications such as use as an electron emitting cathode in a variety of electron optical devices. Dr. Oshima is a recognized leader in the surface science of rare-earth hexaborides. Dr Trenary and his students have recently conducted a scanning tunneling microscopy study of the atomic structure of a lanthanum hexaboride surface and a mass spectrometric study of oxide evaporation from the oxidized surface. The experiments to be conducted at Waseda University consist of studies of adsorption and dissociation of carbon monoxide, water and hydrogen on the lanthanum hexaboride surface, and the growth and characterization on metal diboride surfaces of graphite-like monolayers containing boron and carbon atoms. The principle technique to be used will be high resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy. This research work should result in a long term collaborative interaction between the two research groups in Tokyo and Chicago. This award is funded under the auspices of the Center for Global Partnership (CGP) of the Japan Foundation under the NSF-CGP Science Fellowship Program. ***
