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.

Students in a half-credit nanomaterials chemistry course read an article describing the electrochemical deposition of BiVO₄ (Kyoung-Shin Choi and Jason A. Seabold, “Efficient and Stable Photo-Oxidation of Water by a Bismuth Vanadate Photoanode Coupled with an Iron Oxyhydroxide Oxygen Evolution Catalyst” J. Am. Chem. Soc.

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

This Literature Discussion learning object (LO) is based on the paper “Template Electrodeposition of Single-Phase p- and n-Type Copper Indium Diselenide (CuInSe₂) Nanowire Arrays,” Emil A. Hernández-Pagán, Wei Wang, and Thomas E. Mallouk, ACS Nano, 2011, 5 (4), pp 3237–3241. DOI: 10.1021/nn200373k

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.

This learning object centers around an article published fairly early on in the history of nanoscience (Sun, et al. “Monodisperse MFe₂O₄ (M = Fe, Co, Mn) Nanoparticles” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2004, 126, 273-279.