Department of Chemistry Advincula Research Group |
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Our lab is located in.........
Science and Research 1 (SR-1), Rooms 103/105
Scenes from the lab.... (Click for larger image)
LABORATORY AND INSTRUMENTATION FACILITIES: Our facilities in the laboratory are divided into two sections: synthesis/ultra thin film fabrication and analysis. Apparatuses, glassware, chemical stocks, vacuum lines, ovens, solvent distillation set-ups and rotary evaporators are available for routine organic and polymer synthesis. With the installation of three new fume hoods, our laboratory now has six fume hoods for synthesis. The laboratory also has several desktop computers connected to the network. Our facilities for fabrication and surface sensitive analysis of ultra thin films include: a Langmuir-Blodgett trough, KSV 2000 (KSV Instruments), Laminar flow hood systems (Connecticut Clean Room Corp.), Plasma ion generator, Plasmod Barrel Plasma System (March Instruments), spin coater, P 6204 (SCS Inc.), programmable slide stainer, HMS MS-50 (Carl Zeiss), Null ellipsometer, SE 400 (Microphotonics), optical microscope with rotating polarizer/analyzer, UV-vis spectrophotometer with polarizers (Agilent), water purification system, Milli-Q (Millipore Corp.), and a photochromic-birefringence laser set-up for investigating anisotropy together with other optics supplies. We have added several instruments for thin film analysis and characterization since joining the chemistry department at the University of Houston. The first of these instruments is a Digilab FTS 7000 FT-IR step-scan spectrometer complete with all the attachments for surface analysis (ATR and grazing incidence). In addition, we have a Digilab UMA 600 FT-IR Imaging Microscope with available ATR and GA objectives designed for both single point and imaging with a focal plane array detector. The FTS 7000 is also attached to a PM-IRRAS component. Raman and Near-IR (NIR) spectroscopy are also available with this instrument combination. A state-of-the-art surface plasmon spectrometer (SPS)/ Brewster angle microscope (BAM)/ imaging ellipsometer combination (the Multiskop, Optrel) is also available. A home-built SPR is also under construction in the lab. A quartz crystal microbalance, PM-740 (Maxtek), another HMS MS-100 slide stainer (Carl Zeiss), and goniometer controller for another SPS instrumentation was acquired. Electrochemistry set-up from ADLab Instruments and Amiel (for doing cyclic voltammetry and electropolymerization), Maxtek, new phased-locked-oscillator based QCM instrument (PLO-10), video microscopy set-up equipped with long distance working objectives (Mitutoyo lenses), Labworks interface II- Learning system for PC-based measurements, UV/Vis Xe-Arc Lamp 150 watts from Oriel are all available within the Advincula lab. For polymer characterization, a new Size Exclusion Chromatography (SEC) setup with quadruple detection (including right angle light scattering detection, viscometry, RI, and UV) was recently aquired from Viscotek. We currently have two AFM microscopes available in the lab. A Picoscan AFM, Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM) Probe were obtained in 2000 from Molecular Imaging. We recently added a Molecular Imaging PicoPlus atomic force microscope to our list of instruments in 2004. The PicoPlus is complete with electrochemistry, current sensing, and STM capabilities. Using either the PicoScan or the PicoPlus, we can image in MAC, Acoustic AC (AAC), and contact modes. Also available are two thermal evaporator systems for deposition of metal and organic thin films.
Instrumentation and Techniques (with a little review and related links) Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) Instrument Contact Angle Goniometer Electrochemistry FT-IR Langmuir-Blodgett Deposition Null Ellipsometer, SE 400 (Microphotonics) Plasma Ion Generator Programmable Slide Stainer Quartz Crystal Microbalance Raman Spectroscopy Size Exclusion Chromatography (SEC) Surface Plasmon Spectrometer Surface Plasmon Spectrometer/ Brewster Angle Microscope/ Imaging Ellipsometer Combination (the Multiskop) Spin-Coater/Spin-Coating
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