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Week 5 was a doozy. We spent the entire week doing our entire project. As of Friday the week before, we decided we would turn 180 degrees and switch projects because the PLD is down. We have been creating an Organic Photovoltaic (OPV) polymer since then. The steps will be clearly delineated in our poster and our efficiency ended up being 0.2% at the end of the week. All in all, not bad considering Bakhtyur started with 10^-5 efficiency and is only now up to 3.5%. He is perfecting his technique and hopes to consistently get around 6% (with the maximum for a OPV) at this point being nearly 7%.
At this point, we have all of our data and a final product, so the only thing left will be to format our graphs and get them on the poster. After that, we will have our talk ready to go and start working on our lessons (incorporating some of these concepts) for the school year. Unfortunately, a lot of the time we spent on our poster and talk previously is for naught because it focused on the PLD, hydrogen energy, and TiO2…none of which are part of our revised project. Still, learning another technique has been fascinating and I was happy to broaden my horizons even more.
I haven’t written much about the GE trip b/c I am still mortified about breaking the dead silicon wafer. Okay, I am not at all upset. I can’t help it if I am that strong. Still, the trip was perhaps one of the most useful and interesting things that has happened to me on this project. We were able to see the end result of what we are doing in the lab in its production form. I still have questions about their deposition techniques compared to what we are doing with our thin films. I also hope to work with my school and the state of Delaware to look into getting William Penn solar ready (based on the information that was provided on the trip). We’ll see.
On a personal level….I’m sorry, Peter. I had to. I was able to use some of the ideas from my lab and the site visit outside of the classroom. With a couple partners, I am flipping a home in my spare time and we took time this weekend to make the house solar panel ready for any prospective buyers. We started small with the copper lines running into the hot water heater, but are willing to expand those ideas based on the schematic shown to us at GE. Especially because of the government kickbacks being offered to stimulate production and circulation. I hope we find a buyer who will want us to install the panels and perhaps integrate the energy production with their electric panel. We’ll see.
Wednesday was the day to analyze the nanoparticles we observed from Hassnain. He took us to Spencer for a breakdown of Scanning and Transmission Electron Microscopy (SEM/ TEM). TEM was used for greater resolution, but still became blury with our magnetic cobalt ferric nanoparticles ranging between 3 and 10 nm. With TEM, you could clearly see repeating patterns in the nanocrystals with the goal being one homogeneous surface.
I always found SEM to be more useful for Biology with a strong resolution on a micron scale as opposed to nano. Still, we were able to focus on the particles and obtain some ideas about their structure. In all honesty, it takes Hassnain over an hour to focus and he is gaining experience, so for us to work for 10 minutes each, you could imagine that there were some issues with the images obtained.
I should mention that Ismat took his lab group (including the four of us teachers) to dinner to celebrate Bakhtyar’s M.S. defense. This clearly demonstrates the rapport and amiable interactions he has demonstrated with his advisees. It has been a pleasure to work with all of them. (There I go feeling Yonko again).
Thursday was a day spent working on the Sputtering machine now that it is up and running, but that was primarily for Raleigh and Jessica. Megan and I were waiting until Monday to work with Bakhtyar on a new technique (spray deposition) since the PLD was down. We did some background information and he gave us a tour of his equipment and process on Friday. We would be working on it now, but there is a problem with flooding in DuPont, so we are outcast from both society and the building.
Technology meeting:
Go to Jing to capture images and use screencast.com
itunesu (go to itunes store and click click click away)
Tedtalks (ideas worth spreading)
Skype (Camera/ Recording)
I have a lot to digest this week
Note to self: ask Pat the difference b/t embedding in and sending to screencast.
Let’s see how this works
Monday Poster Layout and Introduction:
The Neon for the Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) did not come in Friday. We are still waiting for it. In addition, the sputtering machine is still being put back together. Megan and I used this time to read through our literature and complete the introduction for our poster. We were able to focus on TiO2 nanoparticles and photovoltaic systems in general.
We also outlined the poster so we would be able to obtain pictures where necessary tomorrow in the lab. Tomorrow should be interesting because we will discuss the theory behind PLD and hopefully we will have a chance to deposit a thin film. If not, we will probably practice with the XRD that we went over and ran on Friday. It will be nice to be a bit more independent and start running our own samples. Still, I am not rushing anything because these instruments are very precise and expensive and I do not want to use them until I have had a test run with accompanying background information. Just like during the school year, sometimes it is best to treat these things with kid gloves. Over and out.
Monday: With the Laser being down for the PLD, we were given articles on Titanium Dioxide (TiO2) to read over and discuss. The readings followed the uses of TiO2 through the decades leading from anti-bacterial applications to self-cleaning buildings. At the end of the day we were able to get a quick look at the engineering camp and the student’s windmill project. I’m not going to lie, it is difficult to be in a room full of rowdy students at the end of the day during the summer.
Tuesday: Turns out the laser will be up and running by the end of the week. We started the day with Hassanain working on the Sol Gel process. The Chemistry behind forming CoFe2O4 seemed simple, but the time it would take between steps for complete dissolving took most of the day. The nanoparticles we hoped to create could be used for a variety of magnetic applications. We will go back at four to check the solution and raise the temperature near 215 C (near its boiling point).
Wednesday: Today was one of our most interesting days because we are starting to see a process straight through from beginning until end. Check out the file below for a synopsis.
Wednesday Afternoon: Not much point in blogging in detail since we were all participating, but I have been downloading my bookmarks and found that Diigo (pronounced Diego) will be a great resource for me. Besides tagging and organizing rather than creating folders, I know I will be able to make use of the “list” option in the classroom to enliven presentations for my students.
G-cast is something that would be interesting, but probably not as useful as taking one area (like my blog) and working hard at that.
Thursday: Today we were loading nitrogen doped TiO2 samples and analyzing their properties using X-ray photospectroscopy (XPS). The X-rays were used to excite the electrons in the sample and various peaks were generated for computer analysis. Emre helped us navigate the system, but our group did have trouble interpreting some of the more complicated peaks.
Friday: Sammy gave us a thorough and in depth lesson on X-ray diffraction (XRD) today. We will be using this method to look at structural thickness of a TiO2 sample. In a week, we will be using it to look at our own substrate with quartz base and TiO2 thin film from the Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD). The neon gas came for the PLD machine today and it should be up and running by the afternoon.
The lecture was a review of crystalline structures in 3 dimensions and explained how the XRD machine worked. We will be measuring angles of diffraction based on particle size and larger particles will give a larger peak on a 2Θ vs. Intensity graph. Smaller particles will yield broad peaks. After reviewing Bragg’s law, we loaded our anatase TiO2 sample and ran the machine. This sample is a test and will a lot us the opportunity to learn the equipment and anaylze the data graphically before using one of the samples we have generated. Our machine looks somewhat similar to the one pictured in http://www.miningweekly.com/article.php?a_id=129577 below.
The TiO2 peaks generated should look like the ones to the above from http://www.hkbu.edu.hk/~csar/phase_identification.html
Four Parts of Fair Use 1) Amount and substantiality 2) Purpose and Character 3) Nature of the copied Work 4) Effect upon work’s value * Although this blog is currently for the use of educating small numbers, in the future, I will be much more vigilant with the pictures from other sites that I am using.
Friday from the previous week: As any strong research project should begin, we were able to take time to review the background information associated with photovoltaic systems and conduct a preliminary literature search. Having done a variety of searches for grad school classes and during my thesis, my initial thought was that I did not need a review of how to search a library’s system, but as usual, I needed to eat a bit of humble pie. I found that since I was a full-time grad student (seven years ago), search engines have changed…who would have thunk it. I was able to find articles that were more basic by searching those most cited (leading me to Nature and other broad Science Journals). I found this very helpful preliminarily and enjoyed being back in the process.
Monday: Dr. Shah’s students presented 1/2 hour to hour lectures concerning the processes and instrumentation that we will be using this summer. Their preparation and the time they took to explain this information to us was extremely helpful. Once again, it is interesting to be out of the loop of primary research and high level Science courses for so long, then to realize just how much is passing me by. I thoroughly enjoyed being back in a classroom setting again. The lecture series was as follows:
Sammy: Pulsed Laser Deposition
Emre: Sputtering
Hussanain: Sol Gel
These three students were thorough and thoughtful in presenting background info at a reduced pace to catch us up on significant subject matter. They have been an open and welcoming lab group. We are lucky to have them as an added resource.
Tuesday: Emre and Andrew took us through the process of sputtering and gave us an in depth demonstration of the machinery. We were able to look inside the instrument, which coupled with the lecture series gave a nice platform for us to understand the importance of the deposition technique. Unfortunately, the larger sputtering device was experiencing technical difficulties, so we will continue this at a future date. Andrew was able to run a smaller sputtering machine and we were able to measure the resistance of the substrate during our time in lab. The most efficient semiconductor he was able to produce in the last 3 weeks had approximately 7 Ohms resistance.
Wednesday: We discussed methods of presenting our final information and began to work on a format putting together slides containing the instruments we have been exposed to previously. In the afternoon, we received X-Ray Safety Training to prepare for some of the techniques we will be using in lab.
Thursday: A highlight from the day involved a visit to the CAVE at BIT (Biological Institute of Technology). As with the lab rotations from week 1, I immediately thought how important it would be to expose some of my students to these opportunities. They need to see Science and Math being practiced outside of a formal classroom and lab setting. The earlier they are exposed to this, the sooner they might begin to think that there are interesting careers out there for them.
Friday: I spent 14 hours in the lab trying to fix the sputtering machine and single-handedly solve the energy crisis. Just kidding, it was the fourth of July and I went to Boston. But, don’t think I wasn’t thinking about the sputtering machine and trying to solve the energy crisis…because I was.
