Course syllabus
Course-PM: The synthesis, properties and structures of solid state materials (KOO093)
The overall aim of this 7.5 ECTS course is to give a good understanding of the synthesis, structure and properties of inorganic materials in the solid state, and to illustrate various technological applications of such materials. The course is composed of 22 lectures (2 hours each), a project work (as performed in groups of four persons), and 5 laboratory exercises (as performed in groups of two persons).
Contact details
Examiner:
Maths Karlsson – Email: maths.karlsson@chalmers.se, Phone: 031 772 6770
Teachers:
Maths Karlsson – Email: maths.karlsson@chalmers.se
Christine Geers – E-mail: geersc@chalmers.se
Lars Öhrström – E-mail: ohrstrom@chalmers.se
Lab assistants:
Elena Naumovska – E-mail: elenana@chalmers.se
Kanming Shi – E-mail: kanming@chalmers.se
Vincent Ssenteza – E-mail: ssenteza@chalmers.se
Lars Öhrström – E-mail: ohrstrom@chalmers.se
Course literature
Main literature:
Solid State Chemistry 5th ed. (Lesley Smart and Elaine Moore, CRC Press 2021)
Distributed lab compendium
Additional relevant literature:
Inorganic Chemistry 7th ed. (Mark T. Weller, OUP2018)
Characterization Methods in Inorganic Chemistry (Mark T. Weller, OUP 2017)
International Tables for Crystallography, vol. A. (Theo Hahn, Kluwer Academic Publishers)
Learning objectives and syllabus
- Describe a number of common inorganic type-structures, and have an understanding for why certain materials adopt certain type-structures.
- Apply the knowledge about crystal structures and bonding to predict a material’s electrical, magnetic, optical and mechanical properties.
- Explain the importance of close-packing in inorganic chemistry and its relevance to crystal structures and properties of solid materials.
- You should be able to describe how various types of defects affect the properties of a solid material. Also, understand ionic vs. electronic conductivity, conductivity mechanism, role of defects and structure, solid electrolyte, battery, fuel cell, sensor materials.
- Understand the basics in diffraction theory and symmetry relevant for analysing crystalline materials. This means that you should understand Bragg’s law, basic diffraction theory, and symmetry operations and the theory behind absent reflections. From a powder pattern of a cubic crystalline material you should be able to calculate the unit cell dimensions and determine the Bravais lattice type.
- Apply the proper preparative method for the preparation of inorganic materials by using information in the scientific literature. After the preparation you should be able to identify the reaction products, and determine and identify impurities. Based on this information you should be able to develop an improved preparative route in order to obtain pure reaction products.
- Describe and explain common experimental techniques used to characterize solid materials, such as TGA, DSC, IR and Raman spectroscopy, EXAFS, NMR, and SEM.
- Knowledge as well as practical experience of several databases as ICSD, CSD is also something you will obtain. Using graphical software (Diamond) to draw crystal structures from a standard data-file (CIF-format) containing structural data.
Examination form
Written examination at the end of the course. The exam will consist of several questions, which will reflect the content of the course (both what is written in the course material, and what is said during the lectures and lab exercises). The maximum score on the exam will be 60 points.
In addition to the final exam, there will be the opportunity to take a mid-term exam (dugga) on September 20. The mid-term exam will take 1h30min and will consist of problems related to lectures F1-11 (see Table 1). The maximum score on the mid-term exam will be 15 points, out of which 40% can be added as bonus points to the final exam on October 27 as well as to the re-exams in January and August 2024.
Grade thresholds (including bonus points) on the written exam:
For Chalmers (KOO093): grade 3 (30 points), grade 4 (39 points), and grade 5 (48 points)
For GU (KEM150): grade G (30 points), grade VG (45 points)
Passed laboratory exercises, including the passing of experimental lab reports, and a passed project (report + presentation), are also required for passing the course.
Note, the lab reports must be handed in at the deadlines at noted in the lab manual.
Schedule
The course is scheduled to block D, and a list of lectures is given in Table 1.
Please note, the schedule may be subjected to change. Any changes will be communicated through an Announcement.
For an updated schedule, see TimeEdit
Table 1. Timetable for the lectures
| Date |
Time |
Room |
Lectures |
Teacher |
|
30/8 (Wedn) |
08.00-09.45 |
Zoom |
F1. Course introduction, crystal structures |
Maths K |
|
1/9 (Friday) |
08.00-11.45 |
MA |
F2-F3. Crystal structures |
Maths K |
|
5/9 (Tuesday) |
10.00-11.45 |
MB |
F4. Synthesis |
Lars Ö |
|
8/9 (Friday) |
08.00-11.45 |
MB |
F5-F6. Bonding in solids |
Maths K |
|
12/9 (Tuesd) |
08.00-11.45 |
MB |
F7-F8. Diffraction theory + selection of projects |
Christine G |
|
13/9 (Wedn) |
08.00-09.45 |
KD2 |
F9. Project – structure generation and analysis using the VESTA software |
Christine G |
|
15/9 (Friday) |
08.00-09.45 |
KB-D41/42 |
F10. Project – structure generation and analysis using the VESTA software |
Christine G |
|
15/9 (Friday) |
10.00-11.45 |
HC1 |
F11 Invited, open, lecture by Omar Yaghi |
Lars Ö. |
|
20/9 (Wedn) |
08.00-09.45 |
MB |
F12 Mid-term exam |
Maths K |
|
22/9 (Friday) |
08.00-11.45 |
MB |
F13-F14. Defects and ionic conductivity |
Maths K |
|
27/9 (Wedn) |
08.00-09.45 |
MB |
F15. Physical characterization techniques I |
Maths K |
|
29/9 (Friday) |
08.00-09.45 |
MB |
F16. Physical characterization techniques II |
Maths K |
|
3/10 (Tuesd) |
10.00-11.45 |
MB |
F17. Magnetism and superconductivity |
Lars Ö |
|
17/10 (Tues) |
08.00-11.45 |
MB |
Project presentations |
Christine G |
|
18/10 (Wedn) |
08.00-09.00 |
MB |
F18-19. Structure data bases |
Lars Ö. |
|
18/10 (Wedn) |
09.00-09.45 |
MB |
F20. Summary, questions and answers |
Maths K |
|
2710 (Friday) |
08.30-12.30 |
Campus |
Written examination |
All |
Laboratory exercises
For the laboratory exercises, you will be divided into groups of two or three persons, and there are five labs in the course; (1) Materials synthesis, (2) Powder X-ray diffraction, (3) Scanning electron microscopy, (4) Thermal gravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry, and (5) Single-crystal X-ray diffraction, which are briefly described in the following. Note, not all groups will do the same labs. Table 2 shows a timetable for all labs.
Table 2. Timetable for the labs
|
Time |
Room |
Lab work |
Teacher |
|
|
4/9 (Mond) |
13.15-17.00 13.15-17.00 13.15-17.00 13.15-17.00 |
KB5106 KB5111 KB5114 |
Lab 1. Synthesis Groups 1-2 Groups 3-4 Groups 5-6 |
Elena N & Kanming S |
|
7/9 (Thurs)
|
08.00-11.45 08.00-11.45 08.00-11.45 08.00-11.45 |
KB5106 KB5111 KB5114 |
Lab 1. Synthesis Groups 7-8 Groups 9-10 Groups 11-13 |
Elena N & Kanming S |
|
11/9 (Mond) |
13.15-17.00 13.15-17.00 13.15-17.00 13.15-17.00 |
KB5106 KB5111 KB5114 |
Lab 1. Synthesis Groups 14-15 Groups 16-17 Groups 18-20 |
Elena N & Kanming S |
|
14/9 (Thurs)
|
08.00-17.00 08.00-10.00 10.00-12.00 13.00-15.00 15.00-17.00 |
CMAL
|
Lab 2. Powder X-ray diffraction Groups 1-3 Groups 4-6 Groups 7-9 Groups 10-12 |
Kanming S
|
|
15/9 (Friday)
|
13.00-19.00 13.00-15.00 15.00-17.00 17.00-19.00 |
CMAL
|
Lab 2. Powder X-ray diffraction Groups 13-15 Groups 16-18 Groups 19-20 |
Kanming S |
|
19/9 (Tuesd)
|
08.00-16.00 08.00-10.00 10.00-12.00 14.00-16.00 |
6017
|
Lab 3. SEM (LiFePO4) Groups 1-3 Groups 4-6 Groups 7-10 |
Vincent S |
|
21/9 (Thurs)
|
10.00-17.00 10.00-11.00 11.00-12.00 13.00-14.00 14.00-15.00 15.00-16.00 |
6038A
|
Lab 4. TGA and DSC (Zeolite) Groups 11-12 Groups 13-14 Groups 15-16 Groups 17-18 Groups 19-20 |
Elena N
|
|
2/10 (Mond)
|
14.00-18.00 14.00-15.00 15.00-16.00 16.00-17.00 17.00-18.00 |
CMAL
|
Lab 5. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction Groups 19-20 Groups 16-18 Groups 7-9 Groups 10-12 |
Lars Ö & Kanming S |
|
3/10 (Tuesd)
|
13.00-16.00 13.00-14.00 14.00-15.00 15.00-16.00 |
CMAL
|
Lab 5. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction Groups 13-15 Groups 4-6 Groups 1-3 |
Lars Ö & Kanming S |