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What instrument or technique can help you answer your research questions?
It can be intimidating to work with a nanoscience laboratory when you are not familiar with all of the sophisticated tools available. The tool below will help you narrow down which instrument or technique might be able to help you answer your research questions. The tool is designed to narrow down instrument types based on what type of sample you have and what information you are trying to gather about it. After you have narrowed down the results, click on an instrument or technique to learn more.
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Atomic Force MicroscopyAtomic force microscopy (AFM) is a very-high-resolution type of scanning probe microscopy (SPM), with demonstrated resolution on the order of fractions of a nanometer, more than 1000 times better than the optical diffraction-limit.
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BET (Brunauer–Emmett–Teller)Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) theory is used to measure the surface area of solid or porous materials. It gives important information on their physical structure as the area of a material’s surface affects how that solid will interact with its environment. Many properties such as dissolution rates, catalytic activity, moisture retention, and shelf life are often correlated to a material’s surface area. Critical to the design and manufacture of solids, surface area analysis is one of the most widely used methods in material characterization.
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Dynamic Light ScatteringDynamic light scattering (DLS) measures the time dependent fluctuations in the scattering intensity to determine the translational diffusion coefficient, and subsequently the hydrodynamic diameter from the Stokes-Einstein equation.
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Focused Ion BeamDual beam FIB-SEM is a workstation that combines a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and a focused ion beam (FIB); it is heavily used in semiconductor industry, materials science, and increasingly in geoscience and biological field for site-specific analysis. SEM delivers high resolution images, while FIB is mostly used to add and subtract micro volumes of material in a controlled manner, like a nanomachining device. Coupled to an Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) detector and Electron Backscattered diffraction (EBSD) camera, dual beam FIB-SEM provides elemental identification and crystallographic properties from the cross-section of the sample. With serial slicing technique, structural, chemical and crystallographic information can be revealed in three dimensions.
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Particle Sizer/CounterAerosol monitors, commonly referred to as dust monitors, particulate monitors, light scattering laser photometers, are used to measure dust, smoke, mist, fume, condensates, and fog, and offer real-time, direct-reading results, which is quickly becoming an industry best practice in occupational hygiene, indoor air quality, and outdoor environmental fugitive emissions monitoring.
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Raman SpectroscopyRaman Spectroscopy is a non-destructive chemical analysis technique which provides detailed information about chemical structure, phase and polymorphy, crystallinity and molecular interactions. It is based upon the interaction of light with the chemical bonds within a material. Raman is a light scattering technique, whereby a molecule scatters incident light from a high intensity laser light source. Most of the light is scattered at the same wavelength as the laser source and does not provide useful information – this is called Rayleigh Scattering. However a small amount of light (typically less than 1 in 1 million incident photons) is scattered at different wavelengths, which depend on the chemical structure of the analyte – this is called Raman Scattering which occurs in two ways. If the scattered light is of lower frequency (longer wavelength) than the incident laser, then it is called Stokes scattering. If it is of higher frequency (shorter wavelength), then it is called anti-Stokes scattering. Most Raman spectroscopy detects the more intense Stokes scattering.
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Scanning Electron MicroscopyScanning electron microscope (SEM) is widely used to characterize the sample surface and near-surface. It provides high resolution images, and elemental microanalysis in conjunction with an Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) detector. With specialized instruments and compartments, SEM may have variable pressure or environmental capabilities that specimens can be observed in high vacuum, low vacuum or wet condition; in-situ experiments such as hydrating, dehydrating and sample heating are also possible.
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Transmission Electron MicroscopyThe transmission electron microscope (TEM) is ideal for studying the defect microstructures of crystals, and probably no other single instrument has contributed more to our understanding of the nature of crystal defects and of microstructurally related properties of a wide range of crystalline materials. In addition to the usual imaging and electron diffraction facilities, most modern microscopes for materials science research are equipped with an x-ray energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) for chemical analysis of very small regions of specimen. Thus, modern transmission electron microscopy (also TEM) can be considered as a logical development from {optical microscopy, x-ray crystallography, and electron microprobe analysis} techniques with which most mineralogists and geologists are familiar. From “Transmission Electron Microscopy of Minerals and Rocks” by Alex C. McLaren.
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UV-Vis SpectroscopyUV-Vis spectrophotometer is a powerful analytical technique to determine the optical properties (transmittance and absorbance). It is generally used to determine analyte concentrations or the chemical conversion of a component in solution, and measure the transmittance of a solid sample.
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X-ray DiffractionX-ray crystallography (XRC) is the experimental science determining the atomic and molecular structure of a crystal, in which the crystalline structure causes a beam of incident X-rays to diffract into many specific directions. By measuring the angles and intensities of these diffracted beams, a crystallographer can produce a three-dimensional picture of the density of electrons within the crystal. From this electron density, the mean positions of the atoms in the crystal can be determined, as well as their chemical bonds, their crystallographic disorder, and various other information.
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X-ray Photoelectron SpectroscopyX-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) also known as Electron Spectroscopy for Chemical Analysis (ESCA) is a surface analysis technique, used for quantitative analysis of the chemical elements and chemical states from the surface of the material being studied. The average depth of analysis for an XPS measurement is approximately 5 nm. XPS can also be used to obtain depth distribution information by combining XPS measurements with ion milling (sputtering) to characterize thin film structures.
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