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Solid State Chemistry
BOOKS & MEDIA UPDATE
A guide for students
Surface Science: An Introduction K. Oura, et al.
A lighthearted and chatty overview of the concepts of materials science, Navigating the Materials World is a helpful supplement to conventional textbooks, says George Whitesides. This book is a breezy first introduction to materials science. It is not a textbook: it is more a discussion, or, as the back cover suggests, a ‘guidebook’. It has a chatty style: informal; idiosyncratic in its choice of subjects and ways of approaching them; amusingly illustrated; light-hearted; and nonmathematical. It is the kind of book that I would urge students just beginning university to use as a supplement to their standard, dense, mathematical textbook, in order to get a broad sense of the shape of the forest (acknowledging that many of the trees will go unnoticed and unnamed in the process). The book could even be used by high school students and nontechnical readers with some background in chemistry and physics, or as a one evening introduction to materials science for scientists and engineers. The book has a straightforward organization, with chapters on tools, metals, ceramics, polymers, composites, biomaterials, semiconductors, and failure mechanisms. It also has a short introductory chapter on how to organize the subject conceptually. The book lists 12 contributors, but the end result is clear, with a uniform style and tone. The comprehensiveness of individual chapters differs, as does their incisiveness. It is difficult to write short chapters that emphasize just the most important ideas, and the chapters succeed to different extents in hitting the high points. The chapter on characterization talks more about what a measurement is – length scales, resolution, sensitivity – rather than about individual techniques. This emphasis seems fine to me, and a complement to the usual textbook, which often details different types of instrumental characterization. The polymers chapter focuses on descriptions of polymers as molecules, and discusses processing, but does not describe entanglement or cross-linking. Since these phenomena give many polymers their properties as materials, this chapter may have missed an important idea. The section on metals provides a nice survey of the subject, and also includes a number of correlations
40
September 2003
(e.g. thermal and electrical conductivity) that might encourage students to search for other such relationships. The chapter on biomaterials describes wood and fibers, but does not mention hard materials (bone, shell, tooth) or gels (synovial or intraocular fluids). The electronic materials section is simplified: in parts so much so, that it might have been easier to explain and use conventional band diagrams. The book also presents its student readers with another, valuable idea. Several chapters (unfortunately, not all) contain ‘concept maps’; diagrams intended to explain how multiple subjects in a chapter can be organized economically to show how it all fits together. Their real contribution is to introduce students to the idea that constructing such a map could be useful. These maps do encourage the student to look for correlations and broad concepts, and seems to me a genuinely helpful pedagogical suggestion. If I were teaching a course in materials science, I would recommend that the students read the book in their own time to get a broad perspective of the subject and a sense for the individual subjects, while assigning them the task of constructing a few concept maps of their own. Caroline Baillie and Linda Vanasupa (eds.) Navigating the Materials World (2003) Academic Press, 258 pp., ISBN: 0-120-73551-2 $49.99 / £34.99
Springer-Verlag (2003), 440 pp. ISBN: 3-540-00545-5 $109 / 89.95
This book provides a general overview of surface science for undergraduate and graduate students. The authors from Russia and Japan emphasize fundamental physical principles, beginning with the basics of two-dimensional crystallography and surface properties. An overview of the most widely used analytical techniques is also given. Finally, the application of surface science to nanostructure and thin film growth is covered. Examples, references, exercises, and problems are provided throughout.
Solid State Chemistry R. C. Ropp (ed.) Elsevier (2003), 460 pp. ISBN: 0-444-51436-8 $195 / 195
Elements of solid-state theory are described in this general textbook for chemists, chemical engineers, and materials scientists. Individual chapters deal with phase changes, structural determination of solids, defects and impurities, crystal growth, particle size and distributions, and the mechanisms and measurement of reactions in the solid state.
Organic Photovoltaics Christoph Brabec, et al., (eds.) Springer-Verlag (2003), 297 pp. ISBN: 3-540-00405-X $109 / 89.95
The book is short and obviously had to select ideas, but, even given this constraint, it is spotty in its coverage. However, the book is easy to read, touches on many interesting subjects, and gives the student both an overview and the idea of looking for one. I believe that it will be a useful supplement to conventional textbooks. It seems to be an effort to bring together people knowledgeable in materials science and others in education to produce a book that explains basic material concepts, and suggests how students might organize what they learn. It is, overall, a success.
The fundamentals of organic solar cells are described in this book. It presents an analysis of the operational principles underlying several types of solar cell with absorber layers based on polymer materials. It also compares competing schemes, such as polymer solar cells and dye-sensitized cells. Some emphasis is placed on polymer-fullerene networks, which show great potential for improving power efficiency.
George Whitesides is Mallinckrodt Professor of Chemistry at Harvard University.
Graduate
Expert Undergraduate
A guide for students
Surface Science: An Introduction K. Oura, et al.
A lighthearted and chatty overview of the concepts of materials science, Navigating the Materials World is a helpful supplement to conventional textbooks, says George Whitesides. This book is a breezy first introduction to materials science. It is not a textbook: it is more a discussion, or, as the back cover suggests, a ‘guidebook’. It has a chatty style: informal; idiosyncratic in its choice of subjects and ways of approaching them; amusingly illustrated; light-hearted; and nonmathematical. It is the kind of book that I would urge students just beginning university to use as a supplement to their standard, dense, mathematical textbook, in order to get a broad sense of the shape of the forest (acknowledging that many of the trees will go unnoticed and unnamed in the process). The book could even be used by high school students and nontechnical readers with some background in chemistry and physics, or as a one evening introduction to materials science for scientists and engineers. The book has a straightforward organization, with chapters on tools, metals, ceramics, polymers, composites, biomaterials, semiconductors, and failure mechanisms. It also has a short introductory chapter on how to organize the subject conceptually. The book lists 12 contributors, but the end result is clear, with a uniform style and tone. The comprehensiveness of individual chapters differs, as does their incisiveness. It is difficult to write short chapters that emphasize just the most important ideas, and the chapters succeed to different extents in hitting the high points. The chapter on characterization talks more about what a measurement is – length scales, resolution, sensitivity – rather than about individual techniques. This emphasis seems fine to me, and a complement to the usual textbook, which often details different types of instrumental characterization. The polymers chapter focuses on descriptions of polymers as molecules, and discusses processing, but does not describe entanglement or cross-linking. Since these phenomena give many polymers their properties as materials, this chapter may have missed an important idea. The section on metals provides a nice survey of the subject, and also includes a number of correlations
40
September 2003
(e.g. thermal and electrical conductivity) that might encourage students to search for other such relationships. The chapter on biomaterials describes wood and fibers, but does not mention hard materials (bone, shell, tooth) or gels (synovial or intraocular fluids). The electronic materials section is simplified: in parts so much so, that it might have been easier to explain and use conventional band diagrams. The book also presents its student readers with another, valuable idea. Several chapters (unfortunately, not all) contain ‘concept maps’; diagrams intended to explain how multiple subjects in a chapter can be organized economically to show how it all fits together. Their real contribution is to introduce students to the idea that constructing such a map could be useful. These maps do encourage the student to look for correlations and broad concepts, and seems to me a genuinely helpful pedagogical suggestion. If I were teaching a course in materials science, I would recommend that the students read the book in their own time to get a broad perspective of the subject and a sense for the individual subjects, while assigning them the task of constructing a few concept maps of their own. Caroline Baillie and Linda Vanasupa (eds.) Navigating the Materials World (2003) Academic Press, 258 pp., ISBN: 0-120-73551-2 $49.99 / £34.99
Springer-Verlag (2003), 440 pp. ISBN: 3-540-00545-5 $109 / 89.95
This book provides a general overview of surface science for undergraduate and graduate students. The authors from Russia and Japan emphasize fundamental physical principles, beginning with the basics of two-dimensional crystallography and surface properties. An overview of the most widely used analytical techniques is also given. Finally, the application of surface science to nanostructure and thin film growth is covered. Examples, references, exercises, and problems are provided throughout.
Solid State Chemistry R. C. Ropp (ed.) Elsevier (2003), 460 pp. ISBN: 0-444-51436-8 $195 / 195
Elements of solid-state theory are described in this general textbook for chemists, chemical engineers, and materials scientists. Individual chapters deal with phase changes, structural determination of solids, defects and impurities, crystal growth, particle size and distributions, and the mechanisms and measurement of reactions in the solid state.
Organic Photovoltaics Christoph Brabec, et al., (eds.) Springer-Verlag (2003), 297 pp. ISBN: 3-540-00405-X $109 / 89.95
The book is short and obviously had to select ideas, but, even given this constraint, it is spotty in its coverage. However, the book is easy to read, touches on many interesting subjects, and gives the student both an overview and the idea of looking for one. I believe that it will be a useful supplement to conventional textbooks. It seems to be an effort to bring together people knowledgeable in materials science and others in education to produce a book that explains basic material concepts, and suggests how students might organize what they learn. It is, overall, a success.
The fundamentals of organic solar cells are described in this book. It presents an analysis of the operational principles underlying several types of solar cell with absorber layers based on polymer materials. It also compares competing schemes, such as polymer solar cells and dye-sensitized cells. Some emphasis is placed on polymer-fullerene networks, which show great potential for improving power efficiency.
George Whitesides is Mallinckrodt Professor of Chemistry at Harvard University.
Graduate
Expert Undergraduate