Tube Furnaces

Several tube furnaces are available for synthesis of MAX, annealing Mxene, surface functionalization, and ammoniation

Superuser: Christopher, Mikhail

Location: Bossone 327 

Purpose: For general MAX phase synthesis

Superuser: Adam, Mikhail 

Location: Bossone 327

Purpose: For Ti3AlC2 MAX phases synthesis

Superuser: Mark, Robert 

Location: Bossone 324B 

Purpose: For ammoniation and salt templated MXene synthesis – N2, Ar, H2/Ar, NH3, Cl2 – 1000 C° max.

Superuser: Christopher, Teng

Location: Bossone 324B 

Purpose: For ammoniation and salt templated MXene synthesis – N2, Ar, H2/Ar, NH3, Cl2 – 1000 C° max. 

Superuser: Mark, Christopher 

Location: Bossone 324B 

Purpose: Annealing Mxene samples – inert / reducing atmosphere (N2, Ar, H2/Ar) or rough vacuum – 1000 C° max

Superuser: Mark, Teng 

Location: Bossone 324 

Purpose: For volatile MAX phases synthesis

Superuser: Mark, Christopher 

Location: Bossone 327

Purpose: For surface functionalization of Mxene and direct transfer to glovebox without air exposure.

Vacuum Ovens

For various drying purposes. Max temperature is 200C under rough vacuum conditions

Superuser: Kyle, Armin 

Location: Bossone 327 

Purpose: For drying organic solvent containing materials

Superuser: Geetha, Adam 

Location: Bossone 324 

Purpose: For drying aqueous based materials

Superuser: Teng, Kyle 

Location: Bossone 327 

Purpose: For sensitive drying operations such as sample preparation for XPS measurements.

Superuser: Kyle, Kateryna 

Location: Bossone 324 

Purpose: For routine / dirty drying operations

Other Furnaces and Ovens

Superuser: Kyle, Danzhen 

Location: Bossone 324 

Purpose: For drying glassware and other large parts. Maintained at constant 70 C° at ambient pressure 

Superuser: Christopher, Teng 

Location: Bossone 324 

Purpose: For annealing large dirty parts at up 1500 C° under air / inert atmosphere. May currently have leakage issues 

Superuser: Christopher, Teng 

Location: Bossone 327A 

Purpose: For rapid annealing of large parts at up 1500 C° under air/vacuum. 

Glovebox

Superuser: Geetha, Mark 

Location: Bossone 327 

Purpose: With T-antechamber. #1 contains tube furnace attachment. For annealing and general sample processing. #2 for electrochemical cell assembly – after annealing, electrochemical etching, Li-S batteries. 

Superuser: John, Armin 

Location: Bossone 323 

Purpose: For electrochemical cell assembly

Processing - Solids

Superuser: Adam, Christopher 

Location: Bossone 324A 

Purpose: Fully programmable CNC. Used for machining parts and drilling ceramic MAX blocks.

Superuser: Christopher, Teng 

Location: Bossone 324A 

Purpose: Szegvari Attritor System Type B is used for efficient grinding and mixing of materials

Superuser: Christopher, Teng 

Location: Bossone 327 

Purpose: Automated mortar and pestle grinder for powders

Superuser: Adam, Christopher 

Location: Bossone 327 

Purpose: Automated Y-style rotary powder mixer for ball milling.

Superuser: Teng, Geetha 

Location: Bossone 324A 

Purpose: Automated system for sieving powders with the ability to stack multiple sieves in series.

Superuser: Mikhail, Geetha 

Location: Bossone 324 

Processing - Liquids - Centrifuges

Superuser: Benjamin, Robert 

Location: Bossone 323B 

Purpose: Used for high speed (up to 15,000 rcf) centrifugation using 6x 50mL tubes

Superuser: Benjamin, Robert 

Location: Bossone 324C 

Purpose: Used for low speed (up to 5,000 rcf) centrifugation using 4x 200mL bottles

Superuser: Benjamin, Robert 

Location: Bossone 327B

Purpose: Used for low speed (up to 5,000 rcf) centrifugation using 4x 500mL bottles, 4x 175mL tubes, 4x 12x 50mL tubes, 4x 12x 15mL tubes

Purpose: For ammoniation and salt templated MXene synthesis – N2, Ar, H2/Ar, NH3, Cl2 – 1000 C max

Superuser: Alex, Adam 

Location: Bossone 323B 

Purpose: For 16x 1.5mL conical centrifuge tubes

Superuser: Alex, Adam 

Location: Bossone 323B 

Purpose: For 8x 15mL centrifuge tubes

Processing - Liquids

Superuser: Mikhail, Adam 

Location: Bossone 327 

Superuser: Adam, Roman 

Location: Bossone 323B 

Superuser: Alex, Tania 

Location: Bossone 324A 

Purpose: Probe sonicator for exfoliation, dispersion, and self-assembly of materials. Coupled to recirculator with coolant to maintain low temperatures of dispersion.

Superuser: Eliot, Benjamin 

Location: Bossone 324A 

Superuser: Robert, Benjamin 

Superuser: Christopher, Mikhail 

Location: Bossone 327B

Purpose: Custom-designed 1L reactor allows for safe and optimal scale up of Mxene synthesis. Capability to etch / delaminate 100 g batches without changes in material properties compared to traditional small scale methods.

Coating

Superuser: Alex, Mikhail 

Location: Bossone 324

Superuser: Kyle, Mohit 

Location: Bossone 323 

Purpose: DRM Flat 100mm RE Rolling Mill has been specifically designed to roll flat metal sheeting exclusively. It is often used to roll the dried electrodes to ensure a good contact between the electrode material and current collector. MXene clays can also be rolled to obtain conductive films directly by squeezing out water.

Superuser: Adam, Lingyi 

Location: Bossone 327A 

Superuser: Danzen, Teng 

Location: Bossone 327A 

Purpose: Spin coater (Laurell Technologies Corporation, WS-650Hz-8NPPB) made of Teflon enabling solvent use. Accommodates 8 inch wafer. Max speed 12,000 rpm. It is used for thin film deposition.

Superuser: Benjamin, Roman 

Location: Bossone 323B 

Purpose: Dedicated fume hood and spray deposition setup for easy and efficient protocol to deposit thin films of materials for various applications.

Superuser: Lingyi, Alex 

Location: Bossone 323 

Purpose: Electrospinning unit (NEU Kato Tech Co, Ltd.) with a maximum voltage applied of 40 kV.

It is used for fiber fabrication from a polymer-based solution, which are collected continuously on a rotating drum.

Superuser: Alex, Adam 

Location: Bossone 324 

Superuser: Lingyi, Alex 

Location: Bossone 323B 

Purpose: Automated preparation of thin samples for adhesive, coating, ink and sealant testing.

Superuser: Ndeye, Geetha 

Location: Bossone 323 

Purpose: Adjustable Film Coating Applicator Film Coater with Micrometer Wet Film Preparation Device 0-3500μm (150mm). Doctor blade is extensively used for coating battery and supercapacitor electrodes with thickness ranging from a few tens to hundreds of micrometers.

Superuser: Danzhen, Kateryna 

Location: Bossone 327A 

Purpose: Oxygen and/or Argon Plasma Cleaner (Tergeo Plus Plasma Cleaner, Pie Scientific) with dry pump capable of reaching 200 mTorr or less pump pressure. It is used for substrate cleaning and functionalization.

Superuser: Lingyi, Adam 

Location: Bossone 324 

Purpose: Axi-draw can move in X-Y directions and can be loaded with Pen to draw or sketch desired patterns. It is a useful tool for direct writing and patterning of functional devices on a wide choice of substrates including paper, glass and plastic.

Analytical

Superuser: Mark, Teng 

Location: Bossone 327 

Superuser: Kyle, Alex 

Location: Bossone 324 

Superuser: Danzhen, Kyle 

Location: Bossone 324 

Purpose: UV-vis-NIR spectrophotometer (Evolution 201, ThermoScientific) from 190 nm to 1100 nm, optional to attach a potentiostat for in situ photo-electrochemistry experiments. Capability of absorbance and transmission measurements.

Superuser: Tetiana, Lingyi 

Location: Bossone 324 

Purpose: Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) (Zetasizer Nano ZS, Malvern Panalytical) equipped with a MP2 Autotitrator. It is used to measure particle size (0.6 nm to 10 um) and zeta potential of colloidal solutions.

Superuser: Eliot, Benjamin 

Location: Bossone 324 

Electrochemistry

Superuser: Geetha, John 

Location: Bossone 323 

Purpose: Arbin BT-2143-11U, College Station, TX, USA is equipped with 32 independent channels and can simultaneously test the electrochemical performance of battery electrodes including galvanostatic charge-discharge, rate handling and cycle life.

Superuser: Danzhen, Kyle 

Location: Bossone 327A 

Superuser: John, Kyle 

Location: Bossone 323 

Superuser: Armin, Mohit 

Location: Bossone 323 

Purpose: Several multichannel potentiostats (Bio Logic VMP3) are available in the laboratory, which are equipped with high standard, impedance, high current, and low current channels. Potentiostats are used for characterizing the electrochemical properties of materials and devices, such as supercapacitors, batteries, and electrocatalytic materials.

Superuser: John, Kyle 

Location: Bossone 323 

Purpose: Pine Research rotating disk electrode is used for electrochemical catalysis and optical catalysis measurements.

Environmental Control

Superuser: Mark, Robert 

Model: Thermo Neslab RTE 740

Purpose: Heating and cooling recirculators for applications where precise temperature control over a wide range is required – ex. for probe sonicators to mitigate heating.

Superuser: Mikhail, John 

Location: Bossone 323 

Purpose: Benchtop test chamber capable of simulating a full range of temperature and humidity conditions with entry ports for in-situ electrochemical measurements.

Physical Characterization

Superuser: Robert, Benjamin 

Options: Two gas adsorption analyzers are available: 

  1. Single station Quantachrome Autosorb iQ (Location: Bossone 324)
  2. Two station Quantachrome Quadrasorb SI. (Location: Bossone 323)

Purpose: They are used to measure the surface area and porosity of porous materials

Superuser: Mark, Alex 

Location: Bossone 324 

Purpose: Simultaneous Thermogravimetric (TG) and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) equipped with Discovery benchtop quadrupole Mass Spectrometer (MS) allows for investigation of surface chemistry and thermal stability of materials through analysis of weight of the sample and evolved gases upon heating under controlled atmosphere (typically Ar, He, air, and O2)

Superuser: Kateryna, John 

Location: Bossone 504 

Purpose: Renishaw Raman inverted microscope equipped with 4 laser lines (488 nm, 514 nm, 633 nm and 785 nm) and 4 different objectives (20x, 55x long distance, 63x and 100x), as well as cooling stage (Linkam) which is able to operate in nitrogen atmosphere (77K – 873 K) and BioLogic system for in-situ electrochemistry testing. It is used to analyze vibrational properties of materials.

Superuser: Mikhail, Adam 

Location: Bossone 327A 

Superuser: Adam, Mark 

Location: Bossone 327A 

Equipment: Jenco transmission optical microscope is equipped with 10x, 25x and 40x objectives.

General / Other

Superuser: Geetha, Eliot 

Location: Bossone 324 

Superuser: Mikhail, Minsoo 

Location: Bossone 324 

Superuser: Adam, Teng 

Location: Bossone 327A 

cof

Superuser: Christopher, Adam 

Location: Bossone 324 

Equipment: Several press systems are available in the laboratory, including Carver 4122 hot press, which is a 12-ton manual hydraulic lab press with digital heated platens.

Superuser: John, Geetha 

Location: Bossone 327 

Purpose: Automated crimper for coin cells with digital pressure control. Manual unit inside the glovebox

Superuser: Alex, Adam 

Location: Bossone 327 

Purpose: VTSYIQI AST-S test stand is a hand-pull tension and pressure tester for mechanical characterization.

Superuser: Danzhen, Tetiana 

Location: Bossone 327A 

Purpose: Infrared Camera used for thermal imaging