window with solution behind it!
My fourth week at the University of Houston went by so quickly! I never expected this internship to fly by as it has, and as each week goes by, I learn an incredible amount.
This week, specifically on Monday, I had expected to promptly start my dipping process with our new “thermostatic oven” (styrofoam insulator), but that did not go as I had planned. I thought I was ready to start dipping, but I had realized that I needed to see my substrate and my dipping machine while it was in the insulator. I thought of making a small window that I could open and close when I needed, but Tiffany had the idea of making a window using a microscope slide. With a lot of tape, I was able to secure the ‘window’ to my styrofoam insulator. Surprisingly, this microscope slide held in the heat well, and we were able to get the temperature inside our insulator to what we needed. It wasn’t the prettiest box, but it was functional! We spent most of the day working on our styrofoam insulator, so it would be able to allow the dipper to go in, and out of our solution, with a thermometer attached.
Tuesday, I took a bit of a detour to assist Katya in the lab with creating a solution. We had to create a solution of HCl and H20. 3/4 H20 and 1/4 HCl. This was an electrolyte solution for electrochemistry using Aniline that Katya was focusing on. To do this safely, we needed ice to cool the beaker, and ended up taking an adventure up to the organic chemistry department where we got the ice, looked around the unfamiliar lab, and then made our way back down to the physical chemistry lab. The day before, I had helped Katya get some glassware prepared in the baking oven for our solution. With our nicely cleaned glassware we made our solution, and luckily the ice kept the temperature down. Katya had mentioned that the Aniline she was given had to be a certain purity to use, and ours was far too dirty. The rest of this day was spent searching for vacuum distillation parts throughout the lab, in hopes that we could set up the distillation before we left for the evening. Unsurprisingly, this did not happen.
Wednesday was spent finding the rest of the vacuum distillation pieces in hopes that we could start the process along with cleaning and marking the slides for our dipping. The first half of the day, we eventually found all of the pieces needed to assemble the distillation, but we were not able to tell the pressure of the vacuum, and what we were using to measure it was not reading anything. After some tweaking, I attempted to put a piece together and ended up breaking the only part we had. While I eventually went back to my own project since this was Katya and Allora’s deal, they eventually figured something out. Once I was back to my project I began cutting and cleaning more slides. Instead of the four that we had before, we were going to make 20 in total! I had to cut a decent amount of slides in order to get them ready for our dipping, since they had to be incredibly clear and with absolutely no residue so our film would adhere properly. Cutting, cleaning and marking the slides is a whole process, so that ate up the majority of the day, especially since they refused to clear up. I went through the whole process of cleaning them twice, and a thin film of grime would not come off of them. I asked Professor Baldelli about this, and he said that the box had most likely been contaminated. We did not have another box of slides readily available. Allora, one of the graduate students in the lab offered me some of her slides, which I happily took, and sadly realized that her slides were most likely from the same box (they had that same grime on them).
Thursday, I spent the day attempting to clean slides or find something we were able to use. During this, I also finished what I needed to with our styrofoam insulator, and had that set up for when we hopefully were able to collect some clean slides. Thursday was a day of learning, where I asked another graduate student, Ying-Ming, how to use his tube furnace with the nitrogen. Professor Baldelli found a few slides that were able to be cleaned, but we needed more, which became an issue for the next day.
dipping machine with both thermometers! (before the glass rod inevitably broke)
Throughout the week, Tiffany, Katya and I had been working on a presentation for the lab. Each week a member from the lab presents what they had been working on, and we were the chosen ones for that week. (The presentors must bring breakfast) At 7:00 in the morning, we scurried to the donut shop and bought half a dozen kolaches and donuts for the lab. Once we arrived, we set up our projector and the usual group talk before the presentation began. Eventually that settled down, and I was first to present my ITO experiment, and what I have so far. Everything went really well, and I was so relieved to gain some incredibly useful advice for the future presentation Ill have to do. The rest of the day was spent searching for a way to find clean slides that were not contaminated. Professor Baldelli sent us to the research store, and unfortunately, we could not find the clear microscope sides that we were looking for. He dug around for a while and was able to come up with a box of slides for me to use, and I promptly cleaned them. They were not grimy! I was able to clean and cut them successfully. Later in the day, Professor Baldelli wanted me to plasma clean them, and that was a whole ordeal, especially considering the pump needed new oil anyways and it would not be ready by the time I would need it. That ate up a chunk of time, and I was not able to dip for the day. The last think I did on Friday was create a new rod for our dipper! (The glass one ended up breaking, not a big shock.) I had Allora help me sauder an alligator clip to a metal rod, and we were able to create a much sturdier dipper!
Saturday was a short day, this day was spent dipping our 0.006M solution and our 0.01M solution onto our newly cleaned slides. I would have started with my 0.03M solution (the strongest concentration), but it became cloudy, and I had to filter it again. I ended up putting it in the centrifuge to deal with later. I was able to get 10 slides coated, but not annealed quite yet.
This week felt very chaotic! I expected to get much more done, but ended up starting what I had hoped to start last week, this week! I did not have an incredible amount of photos this week since everything was so chaotic, next week, I hope to have more.
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