This course is divided into two parts, the first is designed to strengthen some foundations in physical chemistry including thermodynamics and kinetics with relevant examples drawn from environmental, chemical and biological systems. The significance of these concepts in understanding soft matter materials will be emphasised in the course.  The second part of the course is designed to develop an understanding of the structure and functionality of materials. Topics to be covered include solid state, sol-gel and thin film synthesis, crystal chemistry, crystallography, ceramic processing and the relation between structure and function. The properties of some technologically important functional materials will be highlighted as part of this course.

Note: Graduate students attend joint classes with later year undergraduate students but are assessed separately.

On satisfying the requirements of this course, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

1. Understand chemical thermodynamics and be able to apply the principles to common physico-chemical systems such as electrochemistry and free energy.

2. Understand the transport properties of fluids and liquid solutions.

3. Be able to accurately apply simple kinetic models to common systems such as catalysis, polymerization and chain reactions.

4. Describe intermolecular forces and how they affect the properties of materials.

5. Explain crystallographic and crystal chemical concepts such as unit cells, Bravais lattices, fractional co-ordinates, Miller indices, close packing, phase diagrams etc. as well as how to describe inorganic crystal structure types

6. Explain concepts such as real and reciprocal space and how structure factor calculations and diffraction techniques can be used to determine atomic arrangements in crystals

7. Explain how to synthesize crystalline materials via solid state reaction and describe the reaction dynamics of sol-gel and hydrothermal reaction processes and how to use such procedures to synthesize functional nanomaterials and thin films

8. Explain the theoretical basis of physical properties for a range of functional materials including conductors, semi-conductors, insulators; dielectric, ferroelectric, piezoelectric, pyroelectric, electro-optic materials etc

Assessment will be based on:

• Mid-semester exam (37.5%; LO 1-3)

• Assignments/lab reports (25%; LO 1-7)

• Final exam (37.5%; LO 4-7)

Note: Graduate students attend joint classes with later year undergraduate students but are assessed separately. The differences in assessment may include additional questions on the course material or a component assessed at a higher level. This difference will generally be at the 15% of assessment level or higher.

65 hours of lectures, tutorials and laboratory classes and a further 65 hours of independent learning.

Admission to the Master of Chemistry one-year program requires an undergraduate degree majoring in chemistry with 65% avergae in relevant courses.

CHEM2209, CHEM6006/CHEM2206. 

Physical Chemistry, Atkins and de Paula (any recent edition)