Surfaces and interfacial properties control the performance of all materials.  Research in this area is focused on surface analysis of surfaces in a wide variety of applications:

• Medicine (biomaterials, biosensors, gene chips)
• Electronics
• Fuel cells and advanced energy research
• Composites and coatings
• Catalysis
• Geology and minerals
• Forestry and paper products
• Environmental science and technology

Facilities

A regional facility, Surface Interface Ontario, housed within the Department, provides core experimental capabilities in imaging time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectroscopy (ToF-SIMS) and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). 

Consulting

Contamination Studies
tracking sources of contamination
Determination of isotopic composition
Product quality testing
Testing of mechanical failure (adhesion failure)
Corrosion testing
Environmental catalyst performance evaluation.