Saida Holder, Chemistry at the University of Houston Week 2

Hello! This is my second week at the University of Houston studying chemistry, and this week went by incredibly fast compared to last week. While, most of this week was waiting on our solution to filter and our glassware to be cleaned for more prep, I have learned an incredible amount in this short time.

Early Monday, I had made my solutions for the eventual dipping of the ITO films. While I was mixing one of the stock solutions, I did not think anything of the cloudiness it had, but that would eventually be the biggest roadblock we were going to face this week. For context, we had to create two solutions that needed to be filtered, and one of them did not come out as expected. It was unable to be filtered with the specific filter we needed for the experiment, and we had to find a way around it. While I was making both of the stock solutions, I noticed some corrosion on the aluminum foil I had been weighing on, but at the time (before the next compound I tried to weigh), I had thought nothing of it, and went on with finishing the solution by mixing the Indium Nitrate and the Indium Chloride together into a volumetric flask. I began weighing out the Tin Chloride onto aluminum foil paper for that specific solution, but then realized that the aluminum foil was becoming increasingly corroded. To combat this as best I could, I removed the Tin Chloride from the aluminum foil and moved it to weigh paper. I did not realize it at the time, but the Tin Chloride reacted with the aluminum foil, causing a lot of smoke to be created, and an enormous hole in the aluminum. After this, I calmed down and then finished the Tin Chloride solution correctly, without using aluminum foil. At the end of the day on Monday, we decided to leave the solution stirring under a small amount of heat overnight.

our attempt (#1) at adding HCl to the solution

another type of filter we used to see if the solution would become any clearer

Tuesday and Wednesday we awoke to a clump of anhydrous material, nothing had dissolved. We rehydrated the solution, and began forming a plan on how to extract the Indium from the solution effectively. During this time, Professor Baldelli ordered some Indium Chloride that we could use, since we had no remaining chemicals left. We attempted to add HCl (Hydrochloric acid) to the solution so we could see if anything improved, and that had no results. We then decided to make a vacuum filtration system, in hopes that we would be able to filter out what solid had accumulated in the solution. This day was mainly waiting for my glassware to be cleaned for this, since the baking oven takes several hours. At the end of the day, we were able to set up the filtration system, and let it sit overnight.

Thursday morning we came back to find that the solution did in fact get clearer, and there was a large amount of solid material in the filter. I scraped this material into a small beaker and put it to the side in case we needed it. The remaining solution we decided to filter through a different sort of funnel, in hopes that it would be more precise than the one we were using previously. This did work somewhat and I filtered it twice, through different strengths of filters. I was then able to filter it through the syringe, although it took a lot of force, I was able to get a few mL of solution.

one of the super cute cats that we saw at the café

me holding one of the kittens (he was not amused)

Friday was essentially a free day since Professor Baldelli was not in the lab that day, and we came in early to work on a few things, then going back to the dorms. Katya, another high school student doing an internship, and I went to El Gato Cat Café in Downtown Houston. I was so excited to see all the cats they had, and the cause that they were supporting was incredible. I loved all the cats so much! (I am an animal lover 1000%) I would’ve adopted one and taken it home with me to Colorado if I could.

the syringe filter contraption so my hands wouldn’t suffer

Saturday we received the Indium Chloride, and began making a solution that we knew 100% what it was (I was naïve to think this). I mixed 4.4g of the Indium Chloride into 100ml of distilled water, and it did something unusual, unlike the last solution where I had mixed it into a beaker. This Indium Chloride did not dissolve immediately like the one before it had, and became cloudy without clearing up. This worried me, as I did not want to wait another week to even begin doing anything for my experiment. We started out by adding HCl in order to make the pH 2, so the Indium ions could be restored. This worked, and we were able to filter with the syringe, and create the solution we were looking for. Professor Baldelli had me filter it again, and it did not make an incredible difference in how easy/difficult the syringe filtering was. We plan to continue filtering on Monday in hopes that we can finally make the solution we need!