Submitted by Hilary Eppley / DePauw University on Sun, 11/29/2009 - 10:47
Forums
Teaching
I have three unaccounted for 60 min classes left in the semester (starting this Friday) and I'd like to give a BRIEF (I hate having a mere 1/2 credit course to cover inorganic!) introduction to solid state chemistry. My students have done structure and a brief intro to properties and bonding in solids in their intro classes, but I'd like to give them a taste of what's out there at a higher level and how it might be applicable, preferably with a paper discussion that ties into energy (solar? batteries?) on the last of the three days. What would you do if you were in my shoes? (or are you happy you're not? :)).
Tags
energy
solid state
Betsy Jamieson / Smith College
I think it's a reasonable idea if you can find a paper that will work well for a discussion.  Last year in my inorganic class one of the students presented on the research the DiSalvo group at Cornell does on fuel cells.  It went over fairly well.  She found a review paper for students to read and talked about how fuel cells work, etc.  I felt that they began to get an understanding of what the challenges are in the field and what real life chemists are doing to solve these issues.  I could probably find the reference for the article if you want it.  
Tue, 12/01/2009 - 09:47 Permalink
Hilary Eppley / DePauw University

In reply to by Betsy Jamieson / Smith College

...what solid state topics would you spend the first two days covering? Sounds like a possibility!
Wed, 12/02/2009 - 03:59 Permalink
Nancy Williams / Scripps College, Pitzer College, Claremont McKenna College
From someone who knows NO solid state, if you're going for an energy/tech theme, it might be worth explaining how diodes, LEDs, and photovoltaics work, since they're all basically the same diagram from my limited understanding of them.
Wed, 12/09/2009 - 17:57 Permalink
Hilary Eppley / DePauw University

In reply to by Nancy Williams / Scripps College, Pitzer College, Claremont McKenna College

And I ended up tying in a new paper where they are trying doing photoredox to split water into H2 and O2 with the light in order to store some of the energy. Thanks for the input everyone!
Sun, 12/13/2009 - 06:51 Permalink