Invited Paper BI+AS-WeA1
Contributions Advancing Surface Technologies: NEXAFS, ESCA, Rhodium (and More)

Wednesday, November 1, 2017, 2:20 pm, Room 12

The broad impact that surface science has had on so many technologies is mirrored by the contributions of Professor David Castner to many sub-fields dependent upon surface science. Dave’s earliest contributions to the scientific literature were associated with the surface science of rhodium, iron and cobalt catalysts. Papers were published addressing CO hydrogenation, Fischer-Tropsch polymerization and related topics with relevance to energy consumption and chemical production. With Dave’s arrival at the University of Washington in 1986, the subjects of his research shifted from catalysis to biomedical surfaces. Dave and I have always shared a common interest (maybe passion). That is, generating quality data and extracting maximum information from that data. We both had extensive experience with early HP5950 electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis (ESCA) instruments. These monochromatized instruments generated exceptionally high resolution spectra for that era, and the instruments had effective charge compensation for insulators. This allowed us to make great strides in highlighting the use of ESCA for bio-relevant surfaces and biological materials. The theme of data quality has persisted into the present with newer ESCA instruments and then SIMS instrumentation. Dave Castner has taken surface analysis into the 21st century with studies on cells, proteins, novel polymer surfaces and nano-materials. This talk will highlight Dave Castner’s remarkable contributions to surface science with particular emphasis on his contributions to the evolution of methods available to analyze complex surfaces and morphologies.