Jason F. Weaver
Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering

Department of Chemical Engineering
University of Florida

VOICE: (352) 392-0869

EMAIL: weaver@che.ufl.edu

HOMEPAGE: http://www.che.ufl.edu/faculty/Weaver/

Research Interests

My research is directed toward understanding the fundamental chemistry and physics of gas-surface reactions, particularly those involving hyper thermal gaseous atoms and molecules. Such processes are very important in applied areas such as heterogeneous catalysis and semiconductor processing, but they remain poorly understood at the molecular level. We are particularly interested in characterizing the kinetic mechanisms and pathways that govern the interactions between reactive gaseous atoms and adsorbed species and surfaces, and in understanding how these processes are influenced by the intrinsic properties of gas-surface systems and the reaction conditions. Given this fundamental information, we seek to provide a molecular-basis for designing new surface processing strategies, improving existing ones and for developing better materials.

We investigate surface reactivity by utilizing modern diagnostic tools of ultrahigh vacuum surface science in combination with atomic and molecular beam methods. The surface vibrational and electron spectroscopies that are used provide detailed information on the molecular structure of adsorbed species, the composition in the near-surface region and the geometric and electronic structure of the surface. Mass spectrometry is also used to obtain kinetic and mechanistic data on the surface reactions. In addition to our experimental work, we also use molecular dynamics simulations to probe the molecular phenomena that occur during gas-surface interactions. We have found that the combined use of experiment and simulation is a powerful approach for understanding gas-surface interactions at the molecular level.

Recent Publications

1. "Oxidation of polycrystalline tin by hyperthermal atomic oxygen: An investigation using electron energy-loss spectroscopy", J.F. Weaver, T.J. Campbell, G.B. Hoflund and G.N. Salaita, J. Elect. Spectros. Rel. Phenom. 106 (2000) 81.

2. "Direct dissociative chemisorption of alkanes on Pt(111): Influence of molecular complexity", J.F. Weaver, M.A. Krzyzowski and R.J. Madix, J. Chem. Phys. 112 (2000) 396.

3. "Trapping dynamics of isobutane, n-butane and neopentane on Pt(111): Effects of molecular weight and structure";, J.F. Weaver and R.J. Madix, J. Chem. Phys. 110 (1999) 10585.

4. "Coverage dependence of neopentane trapping dynamics on Pt(111)", J.F. Weaver, K.L. Ho, M.A. Krzyzowski and R.J. Madix, Surf. Sci. 400 (1998) 11.

5. "Surface corrugation effects: Molecular ethane adsorption dynamics on rigid-adsorbate covered surfaces of Pt(111)", J.A. Stinnett, J.F. Weaver and R.J. Madix, Surf. Sci. 395 (1998) 148.

6. "Direct collisionally activated and trapping-mediated dissociative chemisorption of neopentane on clean Pt(111): The activity of surface defect sites", J.F. Weaver, M.A. Krzyzowski and R.J. Madix, Surf. Sci. 393 (1997) 150.

7. ¡°Molecular dynamics simulations of xenon adsorption on Pt(111): Differences in the dynamical effects produced by the Barker-Rettner and Morse potentials¡±, J.F. Weaver, J.A. Stinnett and R.J. Madix, Surf. Sci. 391 (1997) 150.

8. "Dynamical origin of non-normal energy scaling and the effect of surface temperature on the trapping of low molecular weight alkanes on Pt(111)", J.A. Stinnett, J.F. Weaver and R.J. Madix, Surf. Sci. 380 (1997) 489.

9. "Performance characteristics of a hyperthermal oxygen atom generator", G.B. Hoflund and J.F. Weaver, Meas. Sci. Technol. 5 (1994) 201.