Gabor Somorjai

LBNL Faculty Senior Scientist
University Professor of Chemistry
Univ of California, Berkeley

somorjai@berkeley.edu
phone:  486-4831

Education
B.S. Chemical Engineering, Technical University, Budapest, Hungary
Ph.D Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley

Major Awards
2008  Priestley Medal of the American Chemical Society
2007  Langmuir Prize from the American Physical Society
2002  National Medal of Science
1998  Wolf Foundation Prize in Chemistry
1979  Election to the National Academy of Science

General Research Interests
Professor Somorjai’s research interests are in the field of surface science. His group is studying the structure, bonding, and reactivity at solid surfaces on the molecular scale. This knowledge is then utilized to understand macroscopic surface phenomena; adsorption, heterogeneous catalysis, friction, lubrication, and biocompatibility on the molecular level. To this end, he also develops instruments for nanoscale characterization of surfaces. These include sum frequency generation surface vibrational spectroscopy (SFG) and high pressure scanning tunneling microscopy (high pressure STM).

LBNL Research Projects

Chemical and Mechanical Properties of Surfaces, Interfaces and Nanostructures

Nanoscience and Nanoparticles for 100% Catalytic Reactions

The Influence of Electron Flow at Oxide-Metal Interface on the Selectivity and Turnover Rates of Catalytic Reactions

Group website:  http://www.cchem.berkeley.edu/gasgrp/

Figure: Surfaces of model catalysts from the single crystal to monodispersed nanoparticles. The surfaces are characterized on the atomic and molecular level under reaction conditions using techniques such as SFG, STM, and XPS. The surface structure (shape), particle size and composition are correlated with reaction rate and selectivity.