John L. Gland Professor of ChE and Chemistry 3118 Dow (734) 763-5941 gland@umich.edu

Professor Gland received his B.A. in Chemistry from the Wittenberg University in 1969, and his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1973.

John Gland is a professor in both the chemical engineering and chemistry departments.

Research Interests:

The Structure and Reactivity of Adsorbed Species. The long term goal of my research program is to develop a molecular level understanding of the relationship between the structure and reactivity of adsorbed species on solid surfaces. In order to establish the foundations of this exciting new area we are focusing our attention on three primary areas: 1) Detailed mechanistic studies of surface reactions, 2) Development of new methods for probing the structure and reactivity of adsorbed species, 3) Developing correlationÕs between surface characteristics and chemisorption/reactivity on optimized surfaces for microchemical sensors and catalysts.

Our basic mechanistic program is focused on characterizing hydrogenation of well-characterized adsorbed intermediates on metal surfaces. Currently, hydrogen induced C-S, C-N, and C-C bond activation in simple adsorbed organic species is being characterized on single crystal nickel and platinum surfaces using a powerful combination of modern surface spectroscopies. We are beginning to explore high selectivity-low temperature surface hydrogenation reactions with energetic reactants like atomic hydrogen and hydrazine. Our group has pioneered the development of Fluorescence Yield-Ultra Soft X-ray Adsorption Spectroscopy for studying the structure and reactivity of adsorbed species. This new method has allowed us to determine in-situ kinetics for monolayer hydrogenation reactions on single crystal surfaces for the first time. Current spectroscopy development efforts are focused on high efficiency soft X-ray detectors and on improving the time resolution for monolayer reactivity studies.

We are also developing a quantitative understanding of coupled bulk diffusion and surface reactions by combining theoretical modeling and experiments. Our current efforts in this area are a collaboration with Professor Schwank and are focused on developing a detailed understanding of energetics and kinetic behavior of hydrogen in and on metal surfaces. We are involved in an interdisciplinary program focused on development of microchemical sensor arrays based on transient thermal behavior of metallic sensing films. This program is a collaboration with Professor Schwank and Professor Kensall Wise (Electrical Engineering). The surface chemistry portion of this program is focused on 1) Chemical design of surfaces which selectively adsorb functionalized molecules, 2) Development of sensing methods for adsorbed species in a wide variety of environments, 3) Developing thermally activated selected area chemical vapor deposition processed for generation of microchemical sensor arrays, 4) Using advanced methods including microscopy and surface spectroscopies to characterize the surface properties of active sensors films.

Last Updated: September 1995

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