NETWORK on Complex Inorganic Materials: Crystal Growth, Inhibition and Dissolution - Linking Experiment and Theory

无机固体通常含有复杂的分子离子种类，如碳酸盐、硫酸盐、磷酸盐或硝酸盐，其溶解、生长和抑制是目前固体研究的主要领域之一。理论和实验方面都出现了新的机会，需要广泛的合作才能加以适当利用。各种显微和光谱实验技术现在能够在原子水平上解析表面结构，例如扫描隧道（STM）和原子力显微镜（AFM）， x射线吸收精细结构（EXAFS）， x射线光电子能谱（XPS）等，同时采购新的高性能计算资源，例如EPSRC将于2003年1月投入使用的Teraflop设施，将提供模拟真实系统所需的复杂大规模过程的能力。因此，固态界现在在研究和阐明这些复杂无机材料宏观行为的基本过程方面取得了相当大的进展。因此，我们建议建立一个包括实验学家和理论家的跨学科网络，主要在英国，但有来自国际成员的有力投入。

The field of dissolution, growth and inhibition of inorganic solids, often containing complex molecular ionic species such as carbonates, sulphates, phosphates or nitrates, is currently one of the major areas of interest in solid state research. New opportunities are emerging in both theory and experiment that require extensive collaboration to be properly exploited. Various microscopic and spectroscopic experimental techniques are now capable of resolving surface structure at the atomic level, such as scanning tunnelling (STM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and others, while the procurement of new high performance computing resources, such the EPSRC Teraflop facility to be available in January 2003, will afford the capability of modelling the complex large-scale processes necessary to simulate real systems. As a result, the solid state community is now making considerable progress in investigating and elucidating the fundamental processes underlying the macroscopic behaviour of these complex inorganic materials. We therefore propose to set up an interdisciplinary network encompassing both experimentalists and theoreticians, principally in the U K but with a strong input from international members.