Scott S. Perry
Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
	Office: 60 Fleming Phone: (713) 743-2715 Email: perry@uh.edu Education B.S., Furman University, 1985 Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin, 1991 Postdoctoral Fellow, UC Berkeley, 1991-1994 Honors, Fellowships, etc. UH Cooper Award for Teaching Excellence, 1997 NSF CAREER Award, 1999 UH NSM College Teaching Excellence Award, 2000 UH Research Excellence Award, 2002 Visiting Professor, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH-Zurich), 2001, 2003 Homepage

Research Interests

Physical Chemistry, Materials chemistry, surface science, scanning probe microscopy, tribology, metal carbides, metal oxides, organic thin films, educational technology.      My involves the use of scanning probe microscopy and ultra high vacuum (UHV) surface analytical techniquesresearch to study the structure, chemical reactivity, and tribological properties of a number of different classes of material surfaces. These include metal oxides, metal carbides, metal nitrides, ultra thin polymer films, and organic self-assembled monolayers. An important theme throughout this work is the correlation of molecular structure and composition with the measured chemical reactivity and mechanical response of the interface. The use of an array of experimental techniques is needed in developing a compete picture of these materials surfaces. Current projects include: 1) Transition metal carbides are unique with respect to both their chemical and physical properties. Chemically, some transition metal carbides display reactivity and catalytic activity similar to platinum. Physically, these materials are extremely hard and possess high melting points. The surface chemical reactivity of a wide range of functionalities is being explored on surfaces of titanium carbide and vanadium. Particular attention is given to the relationship between the local structure, the electronic structure, and the measured reactivity. Temperature programmed desorption studies of ethanol on TiC(100) reveal chemisorbed species which evolve recombinatively near room temperature or dissociatively (data not shown) as ethene at higher temperatures. 2) The correlation of molecular structure and the physical interfacial properties of molecularly thin coatings lies at the heart of a fundamental understanding of wetting, adhesion, and friction. This correlation is being probed on a nanometer scale using atomic force microscopy and a range of spectroscopic tools. This approach is currently being applied to adsorbed, water-soluble polymer brushes and to the vapor phase deposited thin organic coatings. A schematic representation of the electrostatic adsorption of poly(L-lysine)-g-polyethylene glycol on an oxide support. Recent studies have documented the structure and adsorption properties of this polymer brush structure and highlighted its similarity to biomolecules found within articular cartilage. 3) Nanometer scale metal particles have demonstrated size-dependent chemical and catalytic properties, however often suffer from instability and sintering at elevated temperatures. Atomic force microscopy is being used to follow the changes in metal particles on insulating oxide supports as a function of temperature. A central aspect of this research explores methods of controlling surface diffusion and increasing particle stability. Copper nanoparticles (100 nm x 100 nm field of view) on MgO(100) imaged in vacuum by noncontact atomic force microscopy.