Synthesis tips101. Make your condition inert!

water and oxygen. oh, water and oxygen...

Water and oxygen. These are the two most necessary molecules to human beings. For those who synthesize nanocrystals in oils, like me, or like you, water and oxygen could be detrimental.

When you talk about synthetic skills, the dewater and drying process are the most important skills. Some reactions that go well under a pure inert condition would produce just a piece of junk under a small amount of oxygen or water. By just knowing little tips to make your reaction conditions better, you will be recognized as a chemist with an excellent synthetic skill!

Synthesis! That is what I am talking about here!

Here, I listed several techniques that have been useful to me when synthesizing inorganic nanomaterials.

(1) Adaptor with a stopcock 

I am always surprised that adaptors with a stopcock are so less known.  People should use a stopcock adaptor!
You can buy it in here

For example, when you want to use your dried solution for the next week and you do not want to keep it with the Schlenk line for a long time, this works better.  Even normal molecules like oleic acid or oleylamine, I dry under vacuum and use it for later when necessary.  

(2) Glove box

The glove box is the must when you handle very oxygen- or water-sensitive chemicals.

(3) freeze-pump-thaw

The freeze-pump-thaw is good when you wanna dry low boiling point solvent! This is a nice SOP. https://depts.washington.edu/eooptic/linkfiles/Freeze_Pump_Thaw.pdf

Or if you like a video here is an excellent YouTube video

There are more techniques, such as molecular sieves, distillation, and recrystallization of chemicals. I hope this post would be a good starting point for your explore for further reaction tips!

Good luck with a pure reaction!

Figure Balance “Casual and Classy” and Color Contrast

When you make a figure, you need to aim at a good balance point between formal and casual. Not too casual, not too formal, and be neat. The image is from here.

Here is a question: What makes a good figure?

I would say there are three factors: (1) informative; (2) intuitively understandable; (3) slick design. They are intermingled. When crafting your figures, if you put too much information without caring about  the balance, factors (2) and (3) may be lost. Just like, even though you know that broccoli is good for your health, if you only eat broccoli without caring for nutrient balance, such a diet may end up jeopardizing your health and beauty. “Balance” is the keyword here.

I was poor at creating balanced figures. I once believed that figure-making was something you need a sense or talent for—and I had neither. I knew my figures did not look good, but I did not how to improve them. I read books of design methodology or color coordination, but none of them improved my figure-making skills.

I read an article about fashion that talked about the balance between being casual and being formal. It struck my mind, and I realized that, when one designs a figure, a similar method can be applied.

Here, I introduced the concept of balance using “casualty factor” and “classy factor.” If you think there is too much classy factor in your figure, you can balance that out by adding components of casualty factor.

Examples of Casualty and Classy Factors

Casualty factor: Colorful, bold, asymmetry, rectangular, round, vivid, space

Classy factor: Black and white, thin, symmetry, square, sharp, much information

Tune the casualty/classy parameter to hit the sweet point.  But be always neat.

An easy example is a TEM image, which is a black and white result. When I use a TEM image, I trim the image into a rectangular shape not a square because “black and white” + “square” is going to be a little too formal, possibly boring. This is an easy example, but this is my thought process when crafting figures. Similarly, when making big figures (see below), it usually involves big information. Conveying a good amount of information is good, but if you make it only black and white with a sharp shape, your reader might tire from attempts to understand what’s going on. Then, you probably want to add more color into your figures.

 

The left one is clearly clearer than the right one. Color contrast is important.

Good luck on having a nice balance point!

beautiful figure in your paper

Your science is beautiful, or at least, deserves a beautiful figure.

In modern academia, beautiful eye-pleasing figures are vital. Why? Don’t you think if your data are good, they should be appreciated as well? Your professor might say that a journal editor’s impression will be changed or the reviewers of your papers, so if your paper’s figures are stunning, the acceptance rate will be higher. I won’t deny it, but don’t you think it sounds a little too worldly and superficial?

I reframe this matter as a contribution to the field. The published papers will be read by people in the field, but possibly people outside the field as well—or maybe by high school students who are looking for a subject to study in college. We all love what we do and are proud to contribute to piled-up knowledge, but if you go one step farther, reaching out to people outside the field is also good way to contribute the research field. Nice art and beautiful data are good tools because we all have an aesthetic sense. Now don’t you think it might be worth taking the time? Today, even if people don’t understand what “nano” is, they like to buy expensive cosmetic lotion containing called some weird thing decorated with a cool scientific term like “nanowater.” If more people get interested in real science and pay more respect to fundamental research, don’t you think the world will be a little more interesting?

Very notorious fake science. Sigh...

When making beautiful figures, I usually take the following steps:

(i)    Find your favorite figures or cartoons using Google Image analysis or from published articles from the field.

(ii)   Determine the layout and design of your figures.

The step is important. If you start with the best, it is much easier to make a better one than making something from scratch. Choosing a good starting point is important.

(iii)           Determine the panel contents.

(iv)           Start creating. Check the color coordination and design balance.

Customize your figures by putting your data, contents, claims, and adjusting color coordination and design balance. This topic will be further discussed in the next post.

(v)            Be consistent for all formats.

(vi)           Revise, revise, revise!

As previously shown, be consistent for all formats such as font size, font, line width, space, and locations in all elements in the panels. Revise and refine—a lot!

 

Google image search is useful.  You can determine what design you want in your presentation, and use it as your starting point. 

Good luck on your arty figure-making!