A Tale of Two Structures

Submitted by Chip Nataro / Lafayette College on Tue, 08/12/2014 - 10:32
Description

In this activity, students will compare and contrast two closely related structures, [Pd(dcpf)PR3]2+ (dcpf = 1,1'-bis(dicyclohexylphosphino)ferrocene; R = Me or Ph). They will be required to obtain the cif files from the supporting information of a paper. They will then make a variety of measurments in the two stuctures. These measurements can be made using a variety of different freely available programs. Instructions are provided for Mercury 3.3 and Olex2. Finally, students will be required to provide a rationale for the differences in the two structures.

Student choice literature-based take home exam question

Submitted by Hilary Eppley / DePauw University on Fri, 01/24/2014 - 15:27
Description

During my junior/senior level inorganic course, we did several guided literature discussions over the course of the semester where the students read papers and answered a series of questions based on them (some from this site!).  As part of my take home final exam, I gave the students an open choice literature analysis question where they had the chance to integrate topics from the semester into their interpretation of a recent paper of their own choice from Inorganic Chemistry, this time with limited guidance.

Five Slides About a Simple powder XRD Analysis

Submitted by Rebecca / The Ohio State University on Sat, 06/29/2013 - 21:28
Description

These slides walk students through a solid state synthesis with a simple powder XRD analysis. This presentation was made to answer the question “How do I know what came out of the furnace?” for a general chemistry audience, assuming very little XRD knowledge. Specifically this shows using XRD with database searching to determine phase purity through pattern matching.

(This does not cover the fundamentals of XRD, please see related links for that.)

 

Introduction to Synchrotron Radiation

Submitted by Megan Strayer / The Pennsylvania State University on Thu, 06/27/2013 - 15:35
Description

This 5 slides about gives a basic introduction to synchrotron radiation.  Information includes how the particles are accelerated, how they travel to the individual instruments, and where synchrotrons in the USA are located.

Defining Crystalline/Amorphous Phases of Nanoparticles through X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy and X-ray Diffraction: The Case of Nickel Phosphide

Submitted by Carrie Read Spray / Eastern Nazarene College on Thu, 06/27/2013 - 13:30
Description

This literature discussion activity is designed to highlight the use of different instrumentation and what details can be gained from each instrument.  It should also help the students review their knowledge of crystal structure, types of crystals, and amorphous solids.  The paper is from Chemistry of Materials, 2013, 25, 2394-2403 (DOI: 10.1021/cm303490y).  The paper should be given one week prior to class discussion, ideally after covering some of the instrumentation in class including X-ray dif

A Schaaking development of colloidal hybrid nanoparticles

Submitted by Anne Bentley / Lewis & Clark College on Thu, 06/27/2013 - 10:52
Description

This literature discussion was created at the NSF-TUES sponsored workshop at Penn State, June 2013.  It is based on the article from Ray Schaak’s group (Buck, Matthew R.; Bondi, James F.; Schaak, Raymond E. “A total-synthesis framework for the construction of high-order colloidal hybrid nanoparticles” Nature Chemistry, 2012 4, 37-44, DOI: 10.1038/NCHEM.1195), which Ray presented at the workshop.

Tuning the band gap of CZT(S,Se) nanocrystals by anion substitution

Submitted by Benny Chan / The College of New Jersey on Thu, 06/27/2013 - 09:45
Description

The paper from the Prieto group, Riha, S. C.; Parkinson, B. A.; Prieto, A. L. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011, 133, 15272-15275, is proposed to be an excellent literature article for achieving several learning goals in the understanding of fundamental solid state and materials chemistry. The learning object was developed as a part of the 2013 VIPEr workshop and has not been tested in the classroom. We have developed a set of discussion questions that can be used as a guide for the students.

Concept mapping the primary literature: "Compositionally Tunable Cu2ZnSn(S1-x,Sex)4 nanocrystals"

Submitted by Benny Chan / The College of New Jersey on Thu, 06/27/2013 - 09:26
Description

Concept maps are a visual way to organize and represent information. In this literature discussion, we introduce a novel technique for teaching literature analysis to students where concept maps are used for establishing relationships between the key ideas, theories, procedures, and methods of a proposed literature article. Using the article “Compositionally Tunable Cu2ZnSn(S1-xSex)4 Nanocrystals: Probing the Effect of Se-Inclusion in Mixed Chalcogenide Thin Films” (Riha, S.C.; Parkinson, B.A.; Prieto, A.L. J. Am. Chem.

The Synthesis and Characterization of Cobalt Spinels

Submitted by Rebecca / The Ohio State University on Tue, 06/25/2013 - 21:19
Description

In this lab, students will use solid-state methods to synthesize cobalt and chromium spinels, ZnCr2O4, ZnCo2O4, CoAl2O4, and CoCr2O4. They will (1) characterize their structure with X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and (2) characterize the color using UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy.

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