Nobel Prize for Surface Scientist Gerhard ErtlDear Reader,

In terms of a more general description of related applications, Ertl’s findings had impact on the microelectronics in-dustries where thin semiconductor lay-ers are formed by CVD, chemical vapour deposition. Corrosion protection is yet another area that crucially depends on knowledge in surface science. Ertl’s find-ings help solving problems caused by corrosion both in daily life and in indus-try, for example, related to aeronautics or nuclear power plants.

Ertl’s surface studies have opened a wide span of new techniques. A citation from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sci-ences says that “Gerhard Ertl had been one of the first to see the potential of these new techniques. Step by step he had created a methodology for surface chemistry by demonstrating how differ-ent experimental procedures can be used to provide a complete picture of a sur-face reaction”.

Ertl recognized the significance of a microscopy related methodology in sur-face science very early. Quite interest-ingly Ertl and his group have set up a scanning tunneling microscope, STM, for imaging surface reconstructions in the presence of adsorbates at a time where many others were skeptical about STM, after its invention by Binnig and Rohrer in 1982. Some years later Ertl and co-workers succeeded in directly visualizing diffusion processes using high speed STM in order to verify macroscopic laws. An-other example demonstrating Ertl’s am-bition to take use out of modern micro-scopy methods in heterogeneous catalysis research is the observation of adsoption patterns in case of CO oxidation on Pt by Photo Emission Electron Microscopy, PEEM. Some excellent illustrations of adsoption patterns are published by the

Surface Imaging Group, Dept. of Physical Chemistry, Fritz-Haber Institute of the Max-Planck-Society, www.fhi-berlin.mpg.de/surfimag. Field Ion Microscopy, FIM, is another important experimental approach to study catalytic reactions at the nanometer scale. This unique micro-scopy method has been further devel-oped and applied to imaging and in-situ chemical probing in heterogeneous ca-talysis by Norbert Kruse, former Fritz-Haber Institute staff member and scien-tific advisor of Imaging & Microscopy [1, 2].

In this issue of Imaging & Microscopy some excellent scientific articles are pub-lished, which give a view to recent re-search in Scanning Probe Microscopy, Compositional Analysis, Electron- and Light Microscopy. Furthermore, we like to steer the reader’s attention to Imaging & Microscopy’s conference reports and announcements.

Enjoy your reading this issue

Martin Friedrich Thomas Matzelle

Some days ago the Royal Swedish Acad-emy of Sciences announced the 2007 No-bel Prize in Chemistry for Gerhard Ertl, professor emeritus at the Fritz-Haber In-stitute in Berlin.

Imaging & Microscopy congratulates Gerhard Ertl for this most prestigious honour in science that is awarded due to his thorough studies of chemical reac-tions on solid surfaces. When having a closer look on fundamental molecular processes at the gas-solid interface, small gas molecules may either be adsorbed or bounce back at the solid surface, accord-ing to a note by the Royal Swedish Acad-emy of Sciences (www.kva.se). The first case includes the most interesting possi-bilities: The gas molecule can dissociate at the interface, the chemical properties of the surface can be changed, or the ab-sorbed molecule can chemically react with a previously absorbed one.

Ertl’s giant step forward in the under-standing of these scenarios led to various breakthroughs in the development of cat-alysts being invaluable across industry. Carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons are converted to carbon dioxide in vehicles exhaust gasses today, and even the con-tent of nitrous gasses can significantly be reduced. Car manufactures around the globe are producing vehicles that are less harmful to the environment and more fuel efficient.

Very early, in the mid seventies, Ertl unravelled the surface mechanism of am-monia synthesis, a reaction that was first discovered by Fritz Haber, reaching such a technical and economical significance. By applying new surface science methods he showed, that the active species is not molecular but dissociatively adsorbed atomic nitrogen. The nitrogen is hydro-genated in a step-process.

[1] Visart de Bocarmé T., Imaging & Microscopy

8 (1), 19–21 (2006).

[2] News & People, Imaging & Microscopy 9 (3), 8

(2007).

[3] Freund H.-J., Knözinger H., J. Phys. Chem. B,

108, 38, 14183–14186 (2004).

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G.I.T. Imaging & Microscopy 4/2007 • �