Laboratory for Nanomaterials and Sensor Development

Research equipment for sensor development includes: two electrospinning systems, a horizontal and a vertical set-up, a gas flow bench for sensing experiments, which is equipped with a MKS Instruments, Type 247 4 Channel Readout gas flow rate controllers, Agilent 84401A Multimeter, Fluke 8000A Digital Multimeter, Fisher Scientific, Model 650, Digital Flow Meter, Lindberg/Blue T-55035A-1 Tube Furnace (max temp 1100C), and a PC equipped with LabView software.

Additional sensing equipment includes an Electronic Nose set-up, composed of a Sentex Systems Inc, Scentograph Model with Monochromator (GC unit), a Sacmi EOS 835, Electronic Olfactory System, and a Cyranose 320 Electronic Nose

Biosensor testing facilities include a Thermo Orion Model 720A pH meter, Orion 9512BN Ammonia Electrode, Orion 8175BN Sure-Flow Semi-Micro Ross Combination pH electrode with BNC connector, and an Orion 8102BNU Ross Ultra Combination Glass pH electrode with BNC connector

Nanoscale Materials Processing Tools include: a Chemat Technology , KW-4A, Spin Coater, Ted Pella, PC-400, Hot Plates, Corning Hot Plate, Fisher Scientific, HPA1915B Hot Plate, Branson 2510 Ultrasonicator, Lindberg/Blue, STF 55433 PC-1, Tube Furnace (max temp 1500C), and a custom-designed Electrospinning set-up.

The CNSD laboratory is also equipped with dedicated specimen preparation equipment for analytical studies using electron microscopy, such as a VCR Dimpler 500i, an ion mill VCR XLA 2000, tripod polishers and precision polishing equipment. A spin coater, tube and box furnaces, and an Olympus BH-2 optical microscope with a digital camera attached (Nicon coolpix 995). Advanced computing systems and specialized software for simulations of crystal structures and electron diffraction patterns, as well as image processing are also available (such as Desktop Microscopist and Digital Micrograph).

Additional specimen preparation and characterization facilities include a Buehler, EComet 3, Variable Speed Grinder ??Polisher, South Bay Technology, Model 650, Low Speed Diamond Wheel Saw, Gatan Model 601 Ultrasonic Disc Cutter, Olympus BH-2 Microscope, Nikon Coolpix 995 Digital Camera, Corning Scholar 171 Magnetic Stirrer, South Bay Technology XLA 2000 Ion Milling System, Denver Instruments APX-60 Analytical Scale, South Bay Technology Model 360 Disc Cutter, and a Gatan single tilt heating stage for the TEM.

The lab has access to the Electron Microscopy facility of the MSE dept, which hosts a brand new Schottky field emission SEM, LEO 1550 with EDAX detector and EBSD capabilities, and a Philips CM12 TEM equipped with EDS and PEELS detectors.

Computer Laboratory facilities Several desktop and laptop computers (PC and Mac) running Microsoft, Adode as well as specialized software applications (Desktop Microscopist, Digital Micrograph, etc), two scanners for TEM negatives, 4 printers and a copier machine are housed in the lab.