Courses Developed in the Last Five Years
2008: Developed a new Che 496/696 course:
“Molecular foundation for heterogeneous catalysis and electro-catalysis.
The course addresses numerous topics including:
- Chemical bonding on metal surfaces
- Various experimental tools that are used to study chemical transformations on surfaces at molecular level.
- Various theoretical tools used to study chemical interactions on surfaces.
The material was discussed through a number of examples addressing contemporary issues related to the fields of energy and environment. These examples focused on the chemistry of fuel cells, chemistry of alloys, chemistry on nano-sized catalytic materials, characterization of these materials, relationships between the electronic structure of a material and its (electro)catalytic activity, etc.
We also discussed strategies that can be utilized to employ molecular insights to identify optimal electro(catalysts) for different electro(chemical) processes. For example, we developed a molecular foundation for a number of important phenomena including Sabatier’s principle, Bronsted-Evans-Polanyi (BEP) relationships, volcano curves, and many others.
2006: Developed a new Che 496/696 course:
“Ab initio Electronic Structure Calculations in Engineering”. This course described various methods of solving the governing equation of quantum mechanics (Schrodinger equation) with a particular emphasis on Density Functional Theory (DFT). Furthermore it was illustrated how to utilize the electronic structure calculations to develop atomistic insights into elementary processes that govern the performance of heterogeneous catalysts, fuel cell electrodes, chemical sensors, etc. We also discussed different methodologies that allow us to use the atomistic insights obtained in the DFT calculations to draw conclusions about macroscopic observables such as catalytic activity and selectivity.