CHU33610: Practical in Nanoscience and Advanced Materials

Welcome to the Nanoscience and Advanced Materials Junior Sophister Laboratory. Gaining practical experience by carrying out experiments is a very important part of any science degree. Nanoscience and Advanced Materials is no different. Here students complete a number of advanced experiments in Physics, Chemistry, Materials and Nanoscience. A part of this experimental education in nanoscience and advanced materials is training in the modern tools and instrumentation used in the state of the art facilities available in CRANN.

You will spend 6 hours per week (9am-1pm and 2pm-4pm on Fridays) carrying out a range of experiments relating to physics and chemistry of materials. You will perform between 10 and 12 experiments from the list below (Expt.9 is compulsory for all students as is the CRANN practical training in nanoscience). You must write a report on each experiment and hand it in within two weeks of completing the experiment. These reports will be marked by the academic staff members in charge of the lab. Your final lab mark will be based on your marks from Expt.9 and the best nine marks from your other experiments. The lab mark contributes approximately one third of your final mark from JS.

Experimental Procedures

Be sure to download both the experimental procedure and any accompanying scientific papers. The laboratory is your chance to become trained as a researcher, thus you should research the principles involved in each experiment before, during and after the experiment and before completing your report. Pay particular attention to the papers cited in the descriptions of the experiment as well as those accompanying the basic instructions. Discover what further information you can obtain from analysis of the data from your experiment.

Practical training in nanoscience using CRANN facilities

Intensive practical training using advanced nanoscience growth and characterisation techniques will take place in host research groups in CRANN over two Fridays during the academic year.

Currently these CRANN activities involved training in techniques such as electrospray deposition of thin films of nanowires from solution, characterisation of the same by way of scanning and transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy and electrical conductivity or current-voltage (I-V) measurements. Students will be grouped in three or fours for these activities and each student must separately write a report on the results of their growth and measurements. At the beginning of each day of activities in CRANN there will be lectures specific to the activities.

A specific resource on connectivity and conductivity in silver nanowire network arrays that students should read is this paper by groups from the Schools of Physics, Chemistry and in CRANN.

Previously these CRANN activities involved training in techniques such as chemical vapour deposition growth of nanotubes and graphene, characterisation of the same by way of scanning and transmission electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy. Students will be grouped in three or fours for these activities and each student must separately write a report on the results of their growth and measurements. At the beginning of each day of activities in CRANN there will be lectures specific to the activities.

A specific resource on the discovery of nanotubes that students should read is the discovery paper of carbon nanotubes.