“Seeing Is Convincing!” Things You Need to Know When Analyzing TEM Results.

One of the first microscope in history

Nanocrystal research is good because you can see it using an electron microscope. As you may know, science progress is closely related to microscope development. (People did not believe in the existence of microorganisms before the invention of the microscope.) We scientists may not 100% live up to “seeing is believing,” but it is safe to say that “seeing is convincing.”

TEM is good, but, obviously, if you wanna say something for sure, there is much still to learn. Here, I introduce several important topics to learn about TEM

·               Textbooks

I learned a lot about TEM and electron diffraction from this book (Transmission Electron Microscopy and Diffractometry of Materials). (I am surprised that this book has a 3stars out of 5 review!! This textbook is excellent!!) 

Other than this textbook, I know these are pretty good textbooks

Transmission Electron Microscopy: A Textbook for Materials Science

·               Website for references related to measurement

You can learn a lot from a company's website and the university's resources

For example, this "virtual SEM" gives you helpful practice before you go to actual SEM measurement.  If you know each process and what each process means, your learning curve of SEM measurement will be so efficient.

JOEL, one of the most popular electron microscope company, has an excellent website.  I especially like their "glossary of TEM terms." Basically, you can look up a term related to electron microscopy in this website. If you hit terminology seen in a paper or spoken by your professor, this is the go-to website.

·               Again, you should know many things, such as astigmatism, FFT, what is "fringe," and whatnot.

Good luck on your TEM analysis!

Glassware Is Back To Basics. Tips for Base bath

If I were Dr. Seuss,  I will describe our occupation like this:

We are experimental chemists 
We do synthesis
We measure the properties of the products
And we clean up the flask in the final acts

Yes, cleaning up the flask is a vital part of your experiment. We use base bath every day. But, because it is an everyday thing, and all members of the research group use it, there are some issues you need to know.

(i)    How to make base bath
First, take extra precautions. Wear thick black gloves, rubber apron, eye protection, and a face shield. Mix approximately 200–300g of solid KOH, 4 L of isopropyl alcohol, and 1L of deionized water.
(ii) How often would you replace once a semester
When you see dirt in the base bath, you need to replace the bath. Otherwise, renew the base bath once per semester.
(iii) Put the clean glassware in the base bath
Basebath is the place where clean glassware becomes super clean. Rinse the glassware thoroughly both inside and outside and brush if necessary. If you put a flask that you used for a reaction that is new to you, you should return to the base bath to make sure that it was enough. Sometimes, transparent chemicals were stuck inside and reduced. In that case, take the glassware out and clean it using brushing, sonication, or acid solution, and put it back into the base bath.
(iv) Teamwork
Basebath is a symbol of cooperation. Even if you did not do any experiments for a week, if it is your turn, you should clean the glassware.
(v) Log note
A sign-up form is an excellent way to remind people of glass-cleaning duty.

My Google search revealed a lot of procedures like this. You should do your own Google search, too.

LMFGTFY

Good luck with your basic washing skills!

Two Solutions to Make Glass Super Clean

My hair is crazily curly, and the amount is a lot, so my poor sink drain gets stuck periodically. I buy drain cleaner on Amazon, which is acid that melts the hair.

In nanocrystal research, the synthesized products often stick to the inside wall of a flask. It is usually difficult to clean up just by rinsing or brushing. In that case, the acid would be the right solution (double meaning!!! Hola!).

Here, I introduce two acid solutions that are useful to glass washing: aqua regia and piranha solution. Both are extremely dangerous, and you need to consult with the environment, health, and safety (EHS) division of your school on how to deal with it and how to dispose of it.

Aqua regia: To dissolve metal nanocrystals, especially gold. If physical
How to make: Mix nitric acid and hydrochloric acid at a ratio of 1:3
(Further good reading in here.  Check this out)

Piranha solution: Clean up the organic molecules on the glass; after applying piranha solution, your glass should have a clean and hydrophilic surface
How to make: Mix of sulfuric acid and hydrogen peroxide

Hotdogs in a piranha solution. You see how strong and dangerous it is.  Be super careful.

Good luck with super cleaning with acid!

Four Things You Must Know About Cleaning Glassware

You may have experienced a “glassware is not clean” incident. Some might consider circumstantial evidence to hunt for the culprit. Some might scream at a group meeting. The criminal is still at large. You will never know who did it, and the case will be closed.

It is difficult to know who did it because the culprit did NOT intentionally do it. However, it is vital to raise awareness of cleaning glassware. Here, I prepared a checklist.

This is the scene of the incident!!!!!

Glassware Washing Check List
1.    Before you put your glassware away, clean it as much as possible.
Basebath is not a magical solution that will make dirt on your glassware warp into a black hole. It just removes organic molecules. Before putting away your glassware, rinse it with solvent, rub the glass with a paper, then brush with soap or sonicate.

2. Do not rely only on chemistry
Rubbing glass with a brush with soap are the most effective for removing stains. Even if you are sooooo into chemistry, you must admit the world is much more than chemistry.

3. Outside is just as important as inside
A chemical reaction happens inside the flask, so people sometimes underrate the importance of the outside cleanliness.  In the first place, how can you know that inside is clean when the outside is dirty. Clean up everything. If you label your flask, strip off everything.

4. Check your glass in a base bath if the reaction is your first time
In a synthesis, sometimes you accidentally created something you could not see with your own eyes. You might clean up your flasks until it becomes crystal clear, but it does not assure that your flask IS clean. So, if you run a new reaction, 10 min after you put your flask into the base bath, check back if it is still clear or if you see black or colored materials that were reduced from a transparent product.

Good luck with your thorough washing!

IT Literacy 101: Backup and Web Security

You are moving out of your town. You have to leave your important friends who were dear to you. You appreciate the way they were. You have to move on and will never return to the past.  You are going through changes.

Similar sentiment will return to you when you lose all of your data on your laptop or lab’s computer. You cannot return to the days when your data were still alive. A cliché Ph.D. tragedy entitled “My dissertation was gone with the wind one week before the submission date” still happens. Can I convince you just how important it is to back up your data regularly?

Not only back up data, but there are also several things that you should know regarding computer security in the lab. Here are some examples:

•    Back up periodically!
You have to back up your data to an external hard drive at least once a week.
•    Do not let a public computer remember your password!

SAY NOOOOOOOOOOOOO, if it is a public computer!!!!!

•    Do not leave log-in information on a public computer.
These rules are not only for you. From your account, your collaborator’s data might be accessed. Although you know that all of your friends in the lab don’t do anything harmful, it remains your responsibility if something happens.

Good luck with your IT security!

Foresee what you are going to see and write it down in advance in your experiment notebook.

This is a famous art trick. You may see an old woman’s side face in a drawing—or, if you change your perspective, you may see a young girl looking at the other side in the same drawing.

This famous optical illusion is called “psychological scotoma.” Once you determine how you see it, you will be stuck inside that perspective.

In your daily experiments, you will see A LOT of things. For example, when you synthesize your nanocrystals, you might see color changes. Even in the color change, there is a lot going on such as what was the starting, intermediate, ending, what is the spectrum, where is the peak top, how narrow is your peak, how is the optical density, etc.

Life is full of information, but, in experiments, you may want to get all the information. Problems may include an overwhelming amount of information, even in a simple experiment, and it is difficult to see what it is because of your psychological scotoma. There are two solutions for that: Be super mindful and remember all that happened—or you get prepared for the change. Instead of cultivating meditation and mindful skills, I chose the second one; again, the key is organization skills.

If we can foresee the result of our experiments in a quartz sphere, research is going to be easy...

Here are some tips to keep you organized:

1. Write down what you will expect  

What you are going to make is the form that you will fill in the result.

2. Also check the event list

Such as “the color was changed from blue to red after the injection.”

By writing it in advance, you will be keen on the observation.

3. Write any other things that you realized

By preparing for things to happen, you will realize yourself that you will be keen on them. Obviously, there is a lot going on if you are mindful.

4. In the end, conclude your experiments

You want to understand what you observed. As much as you observe, you will have more evidence to support your hypothesis. Probably thinking about it might give you another perspective that you want to observe carefully for the next reactions.

Good luck on sucking up all information from a mindful experiment!