Description
This is a multi-author survey of the state of knowledge and developments in our understanding of oxide surfaces. The material covered includes fundamental theory and experimental studies of the geometrical, vibrational and electronic structure of such surfaces, but with a special emphasis on the chemical properties and associated reactivity. The main focus is on metal oxides, but coverage extends from “simple” rocksalt materials such as MgO, through to complex transition metal oxides with different valencies. While there have been major advances in understanding surfaces in general through the application of modern atomistic and microscopic methods over the last 20 years of the 20th century, the emphasis has been on metal and semiconductor surfaces. While oxide surfaces have long been known to be extremely important, they have not received as much attention due to the perceived difficulty of preparing and characterizing these surfaces. This volume is a step towards altering this.
