48262-SE
Spectroscopy at Surfaces and Interfaces, at the Canadian Society for Chemistry Conference, May 24-28, 2008, Edmonton, Alberta
This PRF-SE grant was used to support the symposium "Spectroscopy at Surfaces and Interfaces" held at the 91st Canadian Society of Chemistry (CSC) conference in Edmonton, AB. This meeting is considered a vital communication and networking tool for Canadian chemists, and is well-attended by faculty, graduate students, post-doctoral associates, and research associates. Our symposium was a success, attracting a broad audience from a wide variety of fields such as infrared and Raman spectroscopy, nonlinear optics, near field techniques, and electrochemistry. With an assortment of classical and emerging techniques, we were able to bring together researchers whose focus is in the areas of tribology, catalysis, fuel cell membranes, electrochemistry, and nanostructured materials. Having our symposium cross-listed between the physical and analytical divisions of the CSC contributed to its visibility. From the time online registration opened, interest in our symposium was so high that the number of contributed talks exceeded our originally-assigned 2 half-day sessions. The conference organizers then provided us with a third session on the following day. Funds from the PRF-SE were used to support an invited presentation from Prof. Rainer Hillenbrand of the Max Planck Institute's Nanophotonics Group. In his presentation entitled "Near-field Nanoscopy and Nanospectroscopy", Prof. Hillenbrand demonstrated that comprehensive material analysis of surfaces and nanostructures requires ultahigh resolution microscopy, providing high sensitivity to chemical composition, structural properties, and local conductivity. Although conventional techiques have offered similar sensitivity, the spatial resolution has been diffraction-limited to about half the probe wavelength. Near-field techniques overcome this drawback, especially scattering-type implementations. Prof. Hillenbrand illustrated this microscopy technique in the mid-infrared, with a spatial resolution of 20-30 nm. He gave applications of material-specific imaging of single nanoparticles and thin films, as well as free carrier mapping in semiconductors. All of the attendees were impressed with his presentation, which may truly be considered one of the highlights of the symposium. We also had three other invited speakers. Prof. Francois Lagugne-Labarthet from the University of Western Ontario gave a presentation entitled "Raman imaging and the use of meso- and nanostructured metallic platforms". He demonstrated that surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy may be used to greatly enhance the signal from diluted solutions and monolayer films, traditionally difficult to study. A novel tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy was shown where a modified AFM tip contains a local metallic probe. Prof. James Coe from The Ohio State University gave a presentation entitled "Enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy of interfaces using metal films with arrays of tiny holes". Here it was demonstrated that metal films containing microarrays or mesh have an IR transmission that is mediated by surface plasmons. Fundamental results concerning the interactions of surface plasmons with vibrational resonances were discussed. Our final invited speaker, Prof. Francisco Zaera from the University of California, Riverside, gave a talk entitled "Infrared studies of surfaces of interest to catalysis and microelectronics". Transmission IR absorption spectroscopy was used to identify key intermediates on high-surface area solids relevent to catalysis. Examples included the anchoring of porphyrins on solid substrates for applications in molecular storage devices. Characterization was focused on adsorbed geometries and titration of chemical sites. In addition to these four invited speakers, we had 19 contributed oral presentations and 9 poster presentations. We estimate that the attendance at the symposium was about 35-40. We thank the PRF for funding this scientific endeavor.
