Solid State Chemistry: Techniques

Some important techniques in solid state research aim to introduce the reader to both principles of the methods and their applications, focusing on inorganic, rather than organic, materials. Methods for a variety of spectroscopies and theoretical modelling of crystal structures are included. Making and studying solids is a rapidly expanding branch of chemistry. Solid-state chemistry is becoming more and more important as its relevance is recognized to subjects as diverse as optoelectronics and heterogeneous catalysis. There has long been felt a need for an authoritative account of the properties of inorganic solids and of the methods for studying them, written at a level suitable for final-year undergraduates studying the subject as a special topic or for first-year graduate students embarking on research in the field. This and a forthcoming volume will fill that gap. The present volume - now made available in paperback for the first time - concentrates on methods for preparing solids and studying their structures and physical properties, while the other will survey compounds with particularly important or useful properties.