This week I got to work on the optical microscope and look to see how uniform the polymer film samples were. The pictures underneath the microscope were sooo cool! So needless to say this has been my favorite week–because that has been my absolute favorite part. I also ran a large series of films through the ellipsometer and washed them in toluene and I am currently working on measuring them all again for their residual thickness.  I also get to work on the optical microscope again today to see what the films look like after washing. I am soo pumped! And of course as things start to get really interesting, of course it’s time to end my stay here in this lab *sigh*. All in all it was a neat experience and I will miss it, but hopefully I can take back being a stronger researcher to my students. I wish you all a wonderful school year, and it was so nice working with you all! Here are some pictures of the films under microscopy for your viewing pleasure:

Howdy everyone,

This week I got to do a lot more ellipsometry and another brief round of flow coating. This time when I used the flow coater I did a much better job. It feels good to accomplish a goal! Improvement–check! You have to have a steady hand when pippetting out the polymer solution to be cast across the silica wafer uniformly. Otherwise you get these very pretty rainbow colors everywhere–which means your coat did not come out uniformly at all. Again the color on these wafers is a general indication of the thickness, so if the colors are all over the spectrum, it is going to be difficult to get an accurate read on the thickness.

During this experience I have also had the opportunity to go to a few lab meetings which is always cool. Different lab members present on what they have been working on. I enjoy getting to see the research that other people are doing. Seeing what ingenious things people are thinking about and working on really just gets me excited. I think that’s why I lead up the STEM Club at my school and really try and encourage my kiddos to get plugged into as many opportunities as possible. Which reminds me, I can’t wait to see you all at the symposium to learn more about what kind of research you guys have had the opportunity to be involved in this summer. =) Enjoy your weekend!

Getting better at using the flow coater.

Less uniform spots on the left, more uniform spots on the right. Edge effect is okay and happens especially since these are smaller samples (this effect will theoretically be less in much larger samples), but we desire at least a significant spot of uniform color.

This week certainly went by quickly.  One day this week I had the opportunity to place the bottlebrush polymer into a solution containing vinyl ether and a photo initiator. This is a pre-step before using the flow coater to cast the thin film polymer.  The  chemistry to make the solution was quite the refresher! Just goes to show if you don’t use some skills for a long time, they can get rusty! We then let the solution sit refrigerated until the next day.  Next we ran it through the flow coater.  I think I got better at using the flow coater machine this time around. Once the bottle brush polymer samples were cast onto the silica wafer,  then we took the polymer coated silica wafers to a UV reactor and put in the UV bulbs ourselves. You can change the intensity of the UV light by the different types of bulbs there. We used a radiometer to calculate the amount of UV in the machine and allowed it to stabilize before placing our samples created from the flow coater to set. My understanding is that the UV light will further crosslink the polymers. Now I have been spending the remainder of the week testing the thickness of all of the different wafers via the good ol’ faithful ellipsometer. Then they have been washed for 10 minutes and then thickness measured again to see how effectively they have been crosslinked.

On  a separate I would say the highlight of my week was getting to go on lab tours with the other NEWT RET’s here and getting to see some of the awesome things they are also doing in their labs. Happy Independence Day/Week etc. everyone! Getting better at the flow coater

A few glows for this week:

1. I got to observe how to use the flow coater this week, so that was learning a new technique.
2. I am excited that this week I was able to chat with my mentor and get somewhat better of an idea of what I will be doing for my project (see below)
3. I have become an ellipsometry queen. I can now do it without even looking at the protocol I wrote down

A few grows for this week:

1. I need more practice on the flow coater. I got to work on it only for a few minutes, but it will be instrumental that I understand how to use it properly in order to complete my project.
2. I have been wracking my brain trying to figure out a lesson plan around all this. I’ve been able to brainstorm a bit, but am having a little bit of a hard time.
3. Even though I have learned to use the ellipsometer well, I have yet to learn what some of the acronyms are on here, and desire to look it up or ask my mentor so I can fully understand.

More about my project:

We are only in the beginning stages characterizing a thin film polymer called “bottlebrush polymer” (synthesized by my mentor) for use in an anti-fouling membrane. Essentially the goal of the project my project will be to test the efficiency of crosslinkage for bottlebrush polymers. To begin that, first I will cast (or coat) the already synthesized “bottlebrush polymers” via use of a machine called the “flow coater” which is able to lay a very thin sheet of the polymer to a silica substrate slide. (Silica is used because joined with the polymer coat, the it makes distinct colors which gives a rough estimation of what the thickness of the sample is before using a more accurate way to test). The desired thickness of the coat of the polymer film can be determined by the velocity set on the flow coater. Next an ellipsometer is used to test the actual thickness of the samples more accurately. The ellipsometer characterizes the thickness of sample (The machine can also be used to characterize thin films in many different ways) .  Then the samples will be washed (I’m not sure what with yet lol) for a set amount of time and then the thickness measured again. If the polymer has been optimally crosslinked, then the difference in the starting and ending thickness  theoretically should be 0. But since this is reality and its really hard to reach the optimal, the lower the difference between the the starting and ending thickness after the washing, the better crosslinked the bottlebrush polymer films are. This is important for when the anti-fouling membrane would be in contact with water so that it will not get washed away.

This at least is my understanding of what is going on…I will update you guys as I learn more or if anything changes.

This week I have still been working on testing the thickness of slides for my mentor but I am hopeful that at least by next week I can get started on my project so that I do not run out of time.

 Me in front of the ellipsometer

 (flow coater)

(elliposometer–it’s hard to get a good picture of this thing, I will try again later). The red screen is because there is risk of visible or invisible laser radiation. My guess is that it absorbs some of the laser.

Thanks for reading. I hope this week has been a great one for all of you!