Some of the most important chemical are produced industrial by means of reaction that occur on the surfaces of solid catalyts.
Surface chemistry deals with phenomenon that occur at the surfaces or interfaces. The interface or surface is represented by separating the bulk phase by a hyphen or a slash.
For example, the interface between a solid and a gas may be represented by solid-gas or solid/gas. Due to complete miscibility, there is no, interface between the gases. The pulk phases that we come across in surface chemistry may be pure compounds or solutions. The interface is normally a few molecules thick but it's area depends on the size of the particles of bulk phases.
Most important phenomena, noticeable amongst these being corrosion, electrode processes, heterogeneous catalysis, dissolution and crystallisation occur at interfaces. The subject of surface chemistry finds many applications in Industry, analytical work and daily situations.
To accomplish surface studies meticulously, it became imperative to have a really clean surface.
Solid materials with such clean surfaces need to be stored in vaccum otherwise these will be covered by molecules of the major compounts of air namely dioxygen and dinitrogen.
