The Materials Characterization Central Laboratory: An Open-Ended Laboratory Program for Fourth-Year Undergraduate and Graduate Students

Abstract

Teaching materials characterization to support student research projects requires a systematic educational approach, because characterization involves a combination of analysis instruments. As analytical instruments are expensive, it is difficult to provide multiple sets simultaneously. An effective educational program allows students to select their own research materials to characterize and apply their personal strategies of instrumental analysis. These strategies are designed around the purposes of the analytical instruments, e.g., molecular structure analysis, crystal structure analysis, morphology assessment, surface analysis, elemental analysis, and thermal analysis. An open-ended laboratory complements this educational purpose. Here, we report on an open-ended laboratory program for fourth-year undergraduate and graduate students at the Materials Characterization Central Laboratory at Waseda University (Tokyo, Japan). The goals of our open-ended laboratory program are to enable students to (1) conduct instrumental analysis, (2) operate analytical instruments, and (3) interpret their data. A team led by a supervisor and laboratory staff offers students a flexible program. This flexibility can be applied to various research fields, such as macromolecular chemistry, inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, physical chemistry, electrochemistry, physics, catalyst chemistry, biomaterials science, and chemical engineering. These diverse research fields demonstrate the feasibility of applying our open-ended laboratory program to student research projects.

Tracking the rearrangement of atomic configurations during the conversion of FAU zeolite to CHA zeolite

“…The authors acknowledge the help of Dr T. Shibue (Materials Characterization Central Laboratory at Waseda University) for NMR measurements. 55…”

Observed adducts on positive mode direct analysis in real time mass spectrometry – Proton/ammonium adduct selectivities of 600-sample in-house chemical library

“…A chemical library was constructed by collecting samples submitted to our contracted HRMS measurement service. 15,17,18 The library samples were gathered from June 2012 to March 2013, and 611 samples were obtained. The identities of all the compounds in the sample library were confirmed by HRMS using ESI time-of-flight mass spectrometry (a few samples were confirmed using a FAB sector mass spectrometer) with errors of <5 ppm compared with the elemental compositions declared by the clients of the HRMS measurement service.…”

Spontaneous Crack Healing in Nanostructured Silica-Based Thin Films

“…AFM observations were carried out on a Dimensions 3100 instrument (Veeco Digital Instruments) in a tapping mode. Si probes (NCHV-10 V) were purchased from Bruker Nano, Inc. Solid-state 29 Si MAS NMR spectroscopy was performed using JEOL JNM-ECX 400 at a resonance frequency of 99.5 MHz with a 90°pulse and a relaxation delay of 100 s. 31 For the 29 Si MAS NMR measurements, the precursor solutions were cast on substrates, and the resulting thick films were pulverized. The hardness of film samples was evaluated using a MH4000 mechanical properties tester (NEC Sanei) employing a trigonal pyramid indenter made of diamond (tip radius: 100 nm, Sanei Instruments).…”