MICROSCOPY AND STRUCTURAL CHARACTERIZATION TECHNIQUES - MOD.1

This course is one of the core educational activities in the Master's degree in Science and Technology of Bio and Nanomaterials,
that describes some of the common approaches to characterise materials.
The aim of the course is to give the basic of crystallography and diffraction as a tool to characterize solid state materials.
Learning objectives involve understanding of basic principles of crystallography and X-ray diffraction and applying these principles to master the
underlying concepts of structural characterisation.
The basic principle of symmetries in solids will be outlined and developed in order to have a quantitative tool in the characterisation of materials. These knowledges will be then used to interpret the X-ray diffraction data. At the end of the course the students will be able to identify crystalline phases present in any kind of material, to determine the mean particle size, o understand the structural modifications due, for example, to doping.

The student active participation and attendance at classes (theoretical lessons and practical activities) together with independent study, will allow to reach the following abilities of learning and comprehension:
1. to learn the main methods used in crystallography;
2. to learn the standard methods used in X-ray diffraction to study materials and specially nano-structured systems;
Linking material learned in class to modern structural characterisation techniques and research will be highlighted to
give you opportunities to see how X-ray diffraction is solving current, real-world problems.

This is a math-intensive course, and it is expected that students have previous
experience with calculus. In addition, students should be familiar with the concepts learned in calculus-based physics.

Introduction to crystallography: Bravais lattices, point groups, space groups. Definition of Zone Axis, Weiss law, Reciprocal space, reciprocal lattice. Ewald sphere.
Interaction X-photon-matter, Instrumentation, diffraction techniques:single crystal and powder methods.
Application of X-ray diffraction in the study of hard and soft matters: Scherrer equation, Rietveld method.

Christopher Hammond, The Basic of Crystallography and Diffraction, 4th edition, Oxford science publication, 2015.
Pecharsky Vitalij, Zavalij Peter, Fundamentals of Powder Diffraction and Structural Characterization of Materials,Springer. Berlin, 2008.
Fultz Brent, Howe James, Transmission Electron Microscopy and Diffractometry of Materials, Springer 4th edition 2013.
Ray F. Egerton Physical Principles of Electron Microscopy An Introduction to TEM, SEM, and AEM, Springer Nature , 2nd edition, 2016

The knowledge acquired by the students will be verified through oral examinations.
The students will be asked to solve some numerical exercises related to the arguments explained during lessons. Furthermore the students will be asked to answer some theoretical questions about topics developed during classes.

Face to face lessons (mainly using blackboard)

English

The final examination will be aimed at verifying the comprehension of the content of the course and on the applications of the different techniques to the study of real applicative problems.
Enrolling for the examination is allowed only to students that attended at least 70% of classes.
Accessibility, Disability and Inclusion

Accommodation and support services for students with disabilities and students with specific learning impairments:
Ca’ Foscari abides by Italian Law (Law 17/1999; Law 170/2010) regarding supportservices and accommodation available to students with disabilities. This includes students with mobility, visual, hearing and other disabilities (Law 17/1999), and specific learning impairments (Law 170/2010). In the case of disability or impairment that requires accommodations (i.e., alternate testing, readers, note takers or interpreters) please contact the Disability and Accessibility Offices in Student Services: disabilita@unive.it.

written and oral