Last week we started experimenting! Up until this point we had been busy making our PNEDs(photothermal nanomaterial enabled desiccants) so I was very excited to start getting data. What we have seen so far is that the carbon black has not adsorbed as much water as the silica. This problem seems to be from the nano particles blocking the water adsorption. Oh well, we still have to see how the gold rods and cubes do.

The experiments take 10 hours to complete, most of that time is a lot of waiting. Since I am right behind Roberto’s lab he keeps me company.

The second part of our experiment is desorbtion which is done under a sun lamp, in Roberto’s lab. To prevent a sun burn I have to be all suited up.

At the end of this week we finally finished making nano particles(our babies are born!)

The first of the last steps was to remove as much junk off of the top of the NP(nano particles) as I could. This took about a day of pipetteing.

When I collected as much of the liquid as I could they were all placed in the oven at 105 degrees to evaporate off the rest of the liquid.

When the particles where dry we took them out of the oven. The gold rods turned blue/green this is called blue shift theory and it means that they increased in energy!

They came a couple days late but boy am I so proud of them!

Also: Yes I am enjoying Jessica Jones, now that I’ve gotten through the second episode which was so dull!

Shaking nano particles + APTES + SiO_2 for optimal coating, using my own wrapping design. During this process we had to remove a bottle to see if they had been shaken sufficiently, which was awfully like trying to birth a baby. The hard part was getting it back in the wrapping, a job no doctor(or student) ever wants to do with a baby.

Beautiful view while waiting for the materials to be born

Getting the solar lamp set up for when we need to dry out the desiccant.

Moving the nest and getting it ready, got to have the humidity just right!

Parting note; Yes I have been watching Jessica Jones season 3

This week is the half way point in our REU program and I feel like I have only just started to get comfortable with the lab. This week we are finishing up making our gold rod nano particles.
Finishing up making gold nano particals

It’s a good thing we had the day off for Fourth of July because I don’t know when I was going to squeeze in my homework assignment(the power point is due Monday.) We will start our experiments next week and to keep on schedule we have started working on the weekend and poor Anjali is working through the holiday.

This last Wednesday we went on a field trip to Scottsdale Water Campus. It was very interesting and surprisingly pretty. For those who don’t know, the city of Scottsdale is to the east of Phoenix and it is very wealthy.

The entrance to the water treatment plant.

We started the tour in a freezing cold room and got the talk about how great they are at what they do. I have to say, I had a migraine and therefore was not as impressed as I should have been. Apparently the site is the world’s largest Vasdose Zone groundwater-recharge well field, looking back that is pretty cool.

We were given ear buds and machines so we could hear the tour guild better in the loud rooms(did I say Scottsdale is rich?) then we finally got to leave the frigid cold!
Rows and rows of RO filters

The inside of one of the massive RO filters

The beautiful McDowell Mountains

Sadly mentor’s official last day was Friday.

Because of that this third week was spent helping her finish her projects, clean up her work space plus my own nano bubbles. I also made a how to video for our Moleaer nanobubble machine and an O&M Manual.

Check out the video out here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GfFAyZ0xa_7LHYhMLiKjGv-tPAdBeN_j/view?usp=sharing

I wish I had had more time with it, but I only had three days to pull it together.
I am so excited to start working with Anjali next week!

The second week of our REU has come and gone.

I spent this week doing a bunch of different things. For the first part of the week I learned the application side of atmospheric water capture and Justin showed me the data he collects and the how, what and why.

The three machines that capture water from the air.

There is a beautiful view from the roof(if you can ignore that it was 43 out.)

While waiting for the dehumidifiers to capture water I helped with a different project in the lab, using uv-c light to prevent biofouling.

Next I started the material synthesis by adhering APTES to the SiO_2 in the dehumidifiers wheel. If the APTES “stuck” the next step is to attach the carbon black nano particles to the APTES.

We boiled ethanol to “cook” The APTES on to dehumidifier wheel fragments.

Hello everyone, not only is this the first week of the NEWT REU this is also my first blog post, ever! I had such an amazing time this week. I traveled to Houston, for the first time, met my fellow REUers and learned so much in the lab.

The week started in the new Martel dorms. I was very pleased with the accommodations we were given, well once we got linens I was pleased. The Rice campus is so beautiful and the during the first day of orientation we were given a tour.

The Beautiful Entrance to Rice

Some of the ASU contingent: Paola Cahue and me, plus honorary member Tim

The Whole Gang

Tuesday night those of us from out of town traveled back home(Phoenix, Arizona). We started working in our labs the next day. I will be working in Dr. Westerhoff’s lab, at Arizona State University, my mentors are Ariel Atkinson, and Anjali Mulchandani. Ariel will be mentoring me until she leaves in three weeks.

Wednesday and Thursday were spent getting me acquainted with the lab and running an experiment which consisted of creating nano bubbles, using air, and trying to gauge how many nano bubbles were still in the water after time.

First we created nano bubbles using this machine:

MoLeaer Nano Bubble Generator

Then we added pCBA at a specific concentration. This chemical reacts with the nano bubbles and allows us to see there concentration using a High-performance liquid chromatography(HPLC). We allowed the pCBA to set for different intervals of time before we quenched it(stopped the reaction). Then the samples went in the HPLC for analysis.

At ASU Fridays are spent in meetings and doing paperwork. I sat in on these meeting and saw what will be expected of me next week. I loved watching how well these professionals collaborate with each other. It was also good for me to see how the constructive criticism works so I don’t take it personally when I present my work.