INTRODUCTION TO

INORGANIC CHEMISTRY

SKT1013
 CHAPTER 1
What is materials chemistry
• WHAT IS INORGANIC CHEMISTRY?

• If organic chemistry is considered to be the ‘chemistry of

carbon’, then inorganic chemistry is the chemistry of all
elements except carbon.

• Inorganic Chemistry is the study of the structures, properties,

and behaviours including of the reactions, of elements,
mixtures e.g. in solutions, and chemical compounds that
do not contain carbon-hydrogen bonds.
• However there are overlaps between branches of chemistry.

• Example; the chemistry of fullerenes and carbon nanotubes

involved studies by organic, inorganic and physical chemists
as well as physicists and material scientists.

The C60 "buckyball" Carbon nanotube

fullerene
• Overlap between inorganic chemistry and physical chemistry
is also significant in the study of molecular structure.

• e.g. in the solid state, X-ray diffaction methods are routinely

used to obtain pictures of the spatial arrangements of atoms
in molecule or molecular ions.

• Therefore, inorganic chemistry has applications in every

aspect of the chemical industry–including catalysis, materials
chemistry, pigments, surfactants, coatings, medicine, fuel,
and agriculture. [
X-RAY DIFFRACTOMETER
 O
C
Fe
H2C
Cl

ORTEP diagram for chloroacetylferrocene. Showing the atom-labelling

schemes and 50% probability displacement ellipsoids for non-H atoms
chloroacetylferrocene
CONTENT

• WHAT IS MATERIALS CHEMISTRY?

• The term material may be broadly defined as any

solid-state component or device that may be used to
address a current or future societal need such as
industrial needs and clinical needs.

• Industrial needs- e.g. innovation, improved

standards, low cost production methods

• Clinical needs- e.g. systemic effects of interventions

including side effects
 Laptop and compact-disc

Microwave oven

Hybrid-car

digital cell phones

fibre-optic
Computing and communication devices
Healthcare products
CONTENT

• Other more product materials such as nanodevices

may not yet be widely proven for particular
applications, but will be essential for the future needs
of our civilization.

Future touch board Future touch screen

THE DISCIPLINE OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY

• Material chemistry is focused on understanding the

relationships between the arrangement of atoms, ions,
or molecules comprising a material, and its overall
bulk structural/physical properties.

• common disciplines such as polymer, solid-state, and

surface chemistry would all be placed within the scope
of materials chemistry.
VARIOUS TYPES OF MATERIALS

materials
Natural Synthetic

Inorganic Organic Bulk Microscale Nanoscale

Amorphous Crystalline MEM devices fullerene

Semi- nanotube
Inorganic Organic thinfilm
conductor
Optical Integrated nanofiber
glasses composite crystal circuits
nanoparticle
Iron, alloys polymer zeolite

steel plastic Solar panel

Cement, gemstone
fabric
ceramic
• This broad field consists of studying:
• structures/properties of existing materials
• synthesizing and characterizing new materials
• using advanced computational techniques to
predict structures and properties of materials

widely used as commercial adsorbents

e.g . in industry for water purification
 Electrical
communication

1774
(telegraph, telephone)

Polymers/Fibers
1872

Automobiles
1885
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES

Computational
electronics
1936

Nanostructural
materials
1985

Nanomaterials
Major Developmental Efforts Related to Materials Science

Applications
2002+
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES
• Each of these areas is still of current interest, including
the design of improved ceramics and glasses,
originally discovered by the earliest

• Although building and structural materials such as

ceramics, glasses, and asphalt have not dramatically
changed since their invention, the world of electronics
has undergone rapid changes.

• Many new architectures for advanced material design

are surely yet undiscovered, as scientists are now
attempting to mimic the profound structural order
existing in living creatures and plant life, to explore the
microscopic regimes.
 The Discovery of Graphene
Core material: Graphene comes from a
base material of graphite and is so thin that
three millions sheets of the substance
would be needed to make a layer 1mm
thick

In 2010, Nobel prize in physics was

awarded to Andre Geim and Konstantin
Novoselov for isolating another form (or
allotrope) of carbon: graphene.
 Revolutionary: Graphene, which
is formed of honeycomb pattern
of carbon atoms, could be the
most important new material for
a century

It is tougher than diamond, but stretches

like rubber. It is virtually invisible, conducts
electricity and heat better than any copper
wire and weighs next to nothing.
 graphene and tin nanoscale composite material for
high-capacity energy storage in renewable lithium ion
batteries

• a new, lightweight “sandwich” structure.

• need a lightweight battery that can be charged quickly and holds its
charge capacity after repeated cycling
• The used of composite materials in air-craft such as
Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet is to reduce weight
and to improve strength, reliability and maintainability
in an aircraft carrier environment.
 Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet

Unit cost US$66.9 million

Materials distribution for F-18 E/F aircraft
Buckypaper is a thin sheet made from an aggregate of carbon
Bucky paper composites provide protection from lighting strikes
nanotubes. The nanotubes are approximately 50,000 times thinner
While overall weight improve structural integrity
than a human hair.

Carbon fiber composite plane needs

metal network but adds weight and
corrosion issues

Metal plane is heavy with poor fuel economy

Considerations in the design of new materials

• The development of new materials is governed by the

current societal need and availability of resources.

• However, the adoption of a material depends

primarily on its cost, which is even observed by
changes in the chemical makeup of currencies
through the years.

• When a new technology or material is introduced,

there is almost always a high price associated with its
adoption.
For example, consider the cost of computers and
plasma televisions when they first became available
– worth tens of thousands of dollars!
Considerations in the design of new materials
• The market price of a device is governed by the costs
of its subunits.

• Shortly after the invention of germanium-based

transistors in the late 1940s, the price of an individual
transistor was approximately US $8-10.

• However, as germanium was substituted with silicon,

and fabrication techniques were improved, the price of
these materials has exponentially decreased

• This has allowed for an unprecedented growth in

computational expediency, without an associated
increase in overall price.