Copyright 2009 by the American Chemical Society
VOLUME 113, NUMBER 6, FEBRUARY 12, 2009
Physical Chemistry of Environmental Interfaces Chemical intuition and experimental data tell us that surfaces and interfaces are unique. As Wolfgang Pauli once famously said, “God made the bulk; surfaces were invented by the devil.” At the 2008 American Chemical Society 235th National Meeting in New Orleans last spring, chemists, chemical engineers, geoscientists, and environmental scientists and engineers gathered to examine how Pauli’s classic statement applied to environmental interfaces. The symposium “Physical Chemistry of Environmental Interfaces” was cosponsored by several divisions of the American Chemical Society including the Colloid and Surface Chemistry, Physical Chemistry, Geochemistry, and Environmental Chemistry Divisions. The aim of the symposium was to combine existing expertise in surface and interface science in these areas and to identify common issues and successes with the goal to advance the emerging and inherently interdisciplinary field of “Physical Chemistry of Environmental Interfaces”. With 52 invited and contributed talks, the symposium highlighted the challenges and opportunities that are associated with obtaining molecular level information on complex environmental interfaces. Scientists are dealing more and more with complex systems that are challenging to investigate from both experimental and theoretical perspectives. The surface science of complex interfaces, such as environmental interfaces, requires substantial advances in experimental and theoretical methods in order for conceptual insights to emerge. On December 8, 2007, Gerhard Ertl gave his Nobel lecture “Reactions at solid surfaces: From atoms to complexity” at Stockholm University. Ertl’s lecture laid out many of the challenges associated with studying complex interfaces on the molecular level. The four-day ACS symposium included presentations on state-of-the-art theories, as well as experimental methods and analytical techniques being used to study a wide range of
interfaces of importance in the environment. Environmental interfaces range from geochemical interfaces such as mineral oxide surfaces in water to the surface of atmospheric particles, from nanoparticle surfaces to organic-coated aqueous interfaces, from carbon nanotubes to biofilms, and they impact local and global processes. Thus, gaining a detailed understanding of these varied and complex interfaces requires an array of complementary approaches as discussed during the symposium program and represented by the content of this special issue. Although participants were quite diverse, encompassing scientists with interests and expertise that ranged from geochemistry, biogeochemistry, atmospheric chemistry, photocatalysis, nanoscience, environmental remediation, and environmental catalysis, it also clear that there are common underlying chemical principles relevant to all of these areas as well as common experimental methods, analytical techniques and theories applied. This special section in The Journal of Physical Chemistry C represents and highlights many topics that were the focus of these presentations. Finally, we would like to thank all of those who contributed to the “Physical Chemistry of Environmental Interfaces” symposium. Because of all the participants, it was a truly successful symposium. We would also like to acknowledge support of the National Science Foundation under Grant No. CHE0633038 (VHG). Through this support we were able to help young investigators attend and participate in the symposium. Symposium co-organizers: Howard Fairbrother, Johns Hopkins UniVersity Franz Geiger, Northwestern UniVersity Vicki Grassian, UniVersity of Iowa John Hemminger, UniVersity of CaliforniasIrVine JP8097704
10.1021/jp8097704 CCC: $40.75 2009 American Chemical Society Published on Web 02/05/2009
